Dragon Ball Harmony
by zmoney12
Summary: After Goku and Vegeta's second victory over Frieza, peace was restored to the whole galaxy. But when that peace is suddenly broken by a series of unnatural events, a new generation of heros is needed to restore harmony. Under the guidance of Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, will these new heros overcome the dangers that stand in the way of peace?
1. Miraculous Healing

A full moon shone in the night sky like a flashlight from space, illuminating the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth in the brilliant white light that bounced off of it from the sun. It was a pretty spectacular sight to see from Harbour City Hospital, as there was not a cloud in the sky and very few trees to interrupt the view. All this beauty was lost, however, on the many sleeping patients that occupied the hospital.

Save one…

A young man lay in the hospital bed in his room, surrounded by machines and tubes, eyes gazing out the window towards the full moon. His hands were bunched into fists as he clawed his way through every breath, willing his heart to keep beating, his brain to keep his bodily functions all in working order. A task that became more and more difficult by the minute, as Cancer proved to be a much stronger opponent. The beauty of the moonlight was the one thing he could focus upon to keep himself from giving up completely.

 _I can't die now,_ he thought to himself. _Not like this! There's too much I need to do with my life! I have to live._

The sickness, however, didn't seem to care for the young man's struggling. He suddenly noticed that his breaths were becoming shallower, the tightness in his hands beginning to loosen, his mind threatening to jump out of his head at any moment. He kept fighting, however, willing his body to stay awake, doing his best to dig his way out of this grave. But he felt like the dirt was piling on too quickly for him, as the moonlight started to glow brighter and encompass more of his vision. He clenched his eyes shut as he tried desperately to beat down his most hated enemy: Cancer.

 _I can't loose to this! I have to win! I promised my family that I would come home healthy, and god-damn it that's what I have to do!_ As he thought this, he felt his hands go completely limp and his eyes soften. The white light of the moon had somehow penetrated his eyelids and was now swallowing the blackness that was previously there. The young man fought with his own body to get air into his lungs, but at this point it was like trying to breath water. There was no use anymore. He had lost his battle.

Or had he…

A burning sensation suddenly swelled in the young man's heart. His heart beat suddenly became more intense as the burning sensation began to spread, first down his left arm, then to his right, down both legs, up his back and spine, until all of his body was burning from the inside. His fists re-clenched and his eyes shot open suddenly as he began to suck air out of the atmosphere in one mighty deep breath. New energy seemed to pulse through his body with every heartbeat, bringing a new kind of life to it. Every beat seemed to pulse with life that washed through his veins. The man's eyes remained closed however, and he allowed himself to drift off to sleep happily, the feeling of slow steady breathing entering and leaving his lungs. And that's when he knew he had finally done it.

He had won.

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A family of four- a couple and two of their three sons- waited impatiently in front of a hospital service desk to see the fifth member of their family. It had been a week since they were told that the eldest child had miraculously recovered to full health, when just moments before, he was on the brink of death. Work had kept them from being able to visit, but now they were all anxious to see how he was.

At long last, a blonde haired nurse approached them from down a corridor leading to the patients' rooms. The woman of the family was first to speak to her.

"Can we see Zack now, please?" she asked the nurse, exasperatedly.

The nurse nodded in response before replying. "We've just finished taking a blood sample. You're free to check in on him, Mrs. Judzon."

The woman walked briskly down the corridor from where the nurse arrived from, leaving the rest of her family in the dust. She just couldn't wait to see her fully recovered eldest son again. As she walked down the white-walled corridor, she inspected a metal plate to the right of each of the doors, which had a number representing each room. There was one in particular she was looking for.

"Theddi, wait up," called the husband of the woman, a tall man with a large belly.

"537, 538… 541! Here it is!" She whispered excitedly, as she turned the handle and threw open the lime green colored door. The first thing she noticed about the room itself was that all of the life support machines had been removed, leaving only the hospital bed, a bedside table with a few assorted snacks and fruits strewn about it and a chair in each of the three empty corners. There, sitting upright in the bed, happily looking out the window to the hospital lawn was the man who she had waited so long to see again.

Her son, Zackary.

Tears instantly flooded her eyes, blurring her vision, as she rushed over to the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt her son shifting his position to face her before feeling two arms wrap around her. She sniffled as they held their embrace for a few seconds before Zack spoke.

"Hi mum," he whispered. "I'm all better now!"

Theddi pulled out of the hug and placed a hand on her son's cheek. She watched as the edges of his mouth curled upward into a slight smile. She responded with a wide grin, with tears still streaming down her face.

"I'm so happy to have you back!" she sobbed as she pulled Zack into another long hug.

She held the embrace there for a few moments before the rest of the family arrived. Two young and slim teenagers, followed by the large-bellied man entered the hospital room behind her. Theddi heard the exchange of 'ooh's and 'aah's that the two teenagers exchanged and she pulled away from the hug once more. Zack rested his hands on his lap as they all crowded around the edge of his bed.

"How are you feeling, Zackie?" the larger man asked with a big smile on his face.

Zack nodded as he replied. "I fee great, dad. I feel stronger than ever, for some reason."

It was only after this response that Theddi noticed that his chest was bare, and the pectoral muscles were rather well toned. This toning also seemed prominent in his arms and shoulders as well.

"Have you been exercising in here?" she asked.

Zack responded by nodding. "I found myself getting bored this past week, so I decided to do some pushups, sit-ups and squats every day," he added. "Can't wait to get back into my martial arts training again, though."

"Vell, you vill get to leave viz your family today, Zackary," a voice with a thick German accent said behind Zack's mum. "But I vill suggest taking it eazy for the next veek or two."

The family turned around to see a rather tall, broad shouldered man in a white coat standing at the doorway to Zack's room holding a clipboard. His face was square in nature and he had angular features in his cheeks and jaw. He wore a pair of small circular glasses on the bridge of his nose. He greeted the family with a warm smile as they turned to face him.

Theddi smirked a little as she could almost feel her eldest son pout in annoyance. "But doctor Eichmann," he complained. "I've been in here for months! I need to get my muscles moving again!"

"And you have been," doctor Eichmann replied, still smiling. "But even your managing to do 100 pushups, sit-ups and sqvuats I do not agree viz, especially zis soon after recovery. Do you vant to go bald again?"

Theddi turned back to her son to see him hang his head in defeat. It then suddenly dawned on her that his hair was flatter, and a little spiky, not in a wavy Afro like it usually did when it got long. After thinking about this, another realization hit her.

"Wait," she began. "Did you say… 100? As in… 100… of… each…?" She stammered out the question as her mouth hung open in shock. Around her, the other family members had mouths agape as well.

Zack scratched the back of his head before replying with a big goofy grin on his face. "Yeah. I ended up getting to 85 before even feeling it."

"But… how…" the elder of the two teenagers stammered as they all stared wide-eyed at Zack.

Doctor Eichmann stepped forward to the foot of Zack's bed and adjusted the position of his glasses before addressing Zach's mother and father. "Ah, yes," he said. "Zis iz something I vish to discuss viz you before you go."

Theddi's heart leapt into her throat. _Is there something else wrong with Zack?_ She thought to herself.

The doctor must have noticed her anxiety, as he put his hand up in a calming manner before reassuring. "Now now, zere iz nossing to vorry about. He iz all better, now. Zere are just a few sings about hiz recovery zat may be of interest to you."

 _Like what?_ Theddi thought to herself again as the doctor flicked through some pages on his clipboard.

"Az part of ze procedure for hiz serapy," doctor Eichman began. "Ve have been collecting regular blood tests from your son to track ze progress of ze cancer."

A reassuring hand on her shoulder from her husband stopped Theddi from exploding at the doctor right there and then. She managed to keep her breathing calm and steady as the doctor stopped at a particular page and continued.

"Ve found somesing very peculiar about hiz latest test, taken after he miraculously healed." He pulled a page from his clipboard and handed it to Theddi. It appeared to be two print outs of a DNA strand, side by side. They seemed to look exactly the same, until she noticed that the strand on the right side of the page seemed to have small spines sticking out from the sides and from each of the layers of DNA.

"Is this from Zack?" she asked.

The doctor responded by nodding, before asking, "Vich do you sink is from hiz healed blood?"

Theddi immediately pointed to the strand of DNA that didn't have spines, to which (to Theddi's great surprise), the doctor shook his head.

Theddi went right back into shock mode as the blood from her face seemed to drain away in an instant. She slowly looked down at the spiny DNA strand. She could slightly hear Zackary and his brothers chatting away behind her, but she was too focused and shocked at her discovery that she couldn't hear what they were talking about. Nor could she come up with any words to say about it.

It was her husband that spoke up for her. "I take it his DNA isn't supposed to look like that?" he ask.

"Human DNA in general iz not supposed to look like zat, Mr. Judzon," doctor Eichmann replied. "Zough it haz been suggested that zis is still the cancer at vork on his body, he iz clearly in far better shape now zan you have known him to be before he vaz even diagnosed."

"What could it be, then?" Theddi asked, suddenly looking up at the doctor with the same worry and anxiety she had before.

"No one here knows, I'm afraid," doctor Eichmann replied. "Ve are so unsure in fact, zat ve sent hiz latest test to Capsule Corp.'s medical office in Vest City, in ze hopes zat zey might be able to shed some light on ze matter." The doctor adjusted his glasses again before continuing. "However, I promise you zat he iz in fact, cancer free, regardless of vat may have been suggested my our medical research team."

Theddi sighed in relief before asking, "When will they have an answer for us?"

The doctor smiled before answering. "Ze Capsule Corporation haz a reputation for being very fast and diligent viz zere tests. If you do not receive ze results in ze mail in seven days, please give me a call."

Theddi nodded before turning back to her sons, to see that the Zackary was already standing up and pulling up a pair of black pants. It was then that she noticed his whole physique was different from when she remembered him. His rounded tummy was gone, replaced now with very clearly defined abdominal muscles. He had the look of a professional athlete now, with his body tapering down to his waist in a V shape.

"Well," Theddi said enthusiastically. "Ready to go?"

Zackary pulled a white T-shirt out of a blue box under his bed and replied, "am I! Let's go home!"

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Zackary gazed out at the greenery in front of the hospital as they pulled away from it in their Holden Adventura. As it got further and further away, he reflected on his fight with his illness over the last 11 months. He had spent his 20th birthday fighting this disease, and the moment they told him he was cancer free was probably the best day of his life.

To his right, his two brothers were watching an anime show on one of their phones, probably Jordan, the youngest of his brothers. As the sounds of their giggles filled his ears, his mind drifted back to his martial arts training and how much he missed being in that purple studio. He began to wander how much he had to re-learn for all the time he had been trying to recover.

"What are you thinking about, Zack?" he suddenly heard his mother's voice ask from the front passenger's seat.

"Just missing my martial arts training, that's all," Zackary replied.

"You'll get to return to your training soon, Zack," he heard his mother say. "But you've had a very long ordeal with your cancer and you need to recover for at least a week."

"Besides," Zackary's father's voice added this time. "We all missed out on quality time with you because of all this. Don't you want to spend your first moments out of hospital with your family?"

Zackary suddenly remembered that they were supposed to celebrate his birthday party on a Mexican cruise. Now he was back with his folks, he figured he should make the most of that time.

Zackary smiled as he replied, "Yeah, that would be nice."

 **Authors Notes: Welcome to Dragon Ball Harmony everyone! The summary says that this is a crossover between DBZ and MLP but it will actually end up being a number of different shows and characters mashed up into one big storyline. DBZ and MLP are the main two, though. This is my first fanfic so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.  
** **This story is a work of fanfiction. Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT are owned by Funimation, Toe Animation, Fuji TV, Bandai and Akira Toriama. My Little Pony and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are owned by Hasbro Studios and Lauren Faust, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is owned by Bethesda Softworks and Zenimax Studios. There will also be references to and characters from other shows which I can't quite fit into this disclaimer that are also not mine and belong to their respective owners.  
** **Coming up next, Capsule Corp. is trying to figure out just what is in Zackary's DNA. Can they come up with an answer to his mysterious transformation, or will they need an outside set of hooves? Find out in the next Chapter of Dragon Ball Harmony!**


	2. Capsule Corp Outsources to Equestria

The double doors to the massive white laboratory opened as Bulma Briefs approached. Her company was booming since the second defeat of Frieza as many different being from around the galaxy moved to Earth to call it their home. The Space Travel department was doing swimmingly as their services were now in high demand from both humans and aliens alike. But today, she was making a routine visit to another department of Capsule Corp.: the Medical Research Department.

As the glass doors closed behind her, she beheld the bustle of activity surrounding computer monitors, test tubes, microscopes and other scientific equipment that lined the many desks of the lab. Even in this lab there was a display of racial diversity, with a big mix of humans, gems, a few namekians, and, most peculiar of all, small unicorns of varying colours, all working in tandem with one another. Bulma suddenly noticed that one of the computer monitors had three lab workers in white coats crowded around it, muttering in confusion. She also noticed that one of them had a very familiar shoulder-length blue hair held back with a red hair band.

 _That's odd,_ Bulma thought to herself. _Bra normally isn't at all interested in this sort of thing. What in this laboratory could possibly get her interested enough to put on a lab coat? Did she think one of the doctors in here was hot or something?_ Bulma decided to approach the group around the computer moniter.

Upon seeing her, many of the members of the medical research team began greeting her with "Good morning, Mrs. Briefs," as she passed. As she reached the group, one of the researchers, one of them, a pony with no horn on her head, with yellow fur and a brown mane, turned to face her with a sudden look of shock on her face.

"M-Mrs. Briefs," she stammered with a slight, southern accent. "We weren't expecting you here so soon."

"Why not, Doctor Hoofield?" Bulma asked. "This _is_ routine, after all. Every week at the same time."

"Y-y-yes, of course, ma'am," the yellow mare stammered again, before she heard her daughter's voice speak up.

"I don't even know what I'm looking, at, Doctor Melvin," Bra's voice stated flatly.

"I told you before, Br- I mean, Ms. Briefs, this is a strand of DNA from someone who's just survived cancer," one of the other researchers, a short skinny man with brown hair wearing oversized round glasses, explained. "Now I don't know how much you know about human DNA, but it is not supposed to look like this."

Bulma decided to interject and investigate herself. "Not supposed to look like what?" she asked.

Dr. Melvin almost jumped out of his chair at the sound of Bulma's voice before swiftly swiveling around to face her. "M-Mrs. Briefs!" He stammered. "Sorry, I-"

"Mom, Doctor Melvin dragged me in here _again,_ " Bra complained. "This time to look at some DNA strand, or whatever."

Bulma sighed and turned back to Melvin. It was no secret that the young doctor had a 'thing' for Bra, but she was clearly not interested in him. At least Bulma now had a believable explanation as to why Bra was there to begin with.

"Melvin, how many times have we discussed this," Bulma asked the young man, who's face was now glowing in a bright crimson. "You don't win a girl's heart by dragging them places that they clearly don't wanna be." She had in fact, sat down with Doctor Melvin at least four times, to her memory, where they discussed his feelings for her daughter and how it would interfere with his work. He was even seeing a life coach about it.

"I know, I know, Mrs. Briefs," Doctor Melvin replied. "But I just had to tell someone about this, and your daughter was right outside there, and I just couldn't-"

"That reminds me," Bulma interrupted. "You were saying something about a strand of human DNA that looked funny."

Melvin quickly adjusted his glasses and pointed to the computer monitor. "This DNA strand came from a blood sample from a recovering cancer patient from Harbour City last week," he explained. "Harbour City Hospital also sent their previous samples that they took during his treatment and this one is the only one that looks like this. The first team picked it up and didn't know what it was. Doctor Hoofield here looked at it and didn't know what it was. I've been looking at it for the past four days and I'm still scratching my head."

"I don't even know of any thing in Equestria who's DNA would look like that," the pony said.

"Mom, do you know what they're talking about?" Bulma hear Bra ask as she began to take a closer look. Bulma suddenly fell over backwards in shock of what she saw. She composed herself as quickly as she could before looking at the monitor once again.

The general makeup and the colour coding of the DNA suggested that it had in fact come from a human being, but it was covered in little spine like shapes. It's not that she hadn't seen this before, but she was shocked because she had seen this kind of DNA strand all of the time.

In her own children.

"You alright, there, Mrs. Briefs?" Doctor Hoofield asked.

"Do you know what that is?" Asked Doctor Melvin.

Softly, Bulma replied. "Guys… I've seen this before…"

"Really?" Doctor Melvin exclaimed. "Where?"

"In Trunks, in Gohan, in Bra," Bulma replied. "When I would compare the DNA strands of half Saiyans to that of full bread Saiyans like my husband's."

Both pony and man now had their bottom jaws on the ground at this stage. Bra then spoke up. "Mom, are you saying that this 'Zackary' guy is part Saiyan, like me?"

Bulma then adopted a serious tone. "More like Pan, I think. But I don't know how this DNA type would just develop in someone who has cancer," She said. "Goku and Vegeta are the only one's on Earth capable of producing part-saiyan offspring…" A thought suddenly hit Bulma in the back of the head like a flying punch. "…But that's assuming that Goku was the first saiyan to land on Earth."

 _Could there have been a saiyan on Earth before Goku?_ She thought. _That seems so ridiculous, but how else would we have a saiyan-human hybrid outside of Goku's family or mine?_

"M-Mrs. Briefs," The yellow mare began. "Do you want us to send this to your email? We still have a tone of tests to go through."

Bulma nodded slowly before replying. "I want someone investigating this patient's family line. Trace it as far back as you can until you get me a result that makes sense."

"But Mrs. Briefs," Doctor Melvin said. "What does his family line have to do with this?"

 _Did he really just ask that,_ Bulma thought to herself before replying. "Humans don't just get cancer and then magically transform into Saiyans overnight. If this young man's body responded to the cancer in this way, there must be a saiyan somewhere in his family tree. I need you to find him or her."

"But Mrs. Briefs, we're already flat out as it is," Melvin complained. "Like Doctor Hoofield said, we still have so many tests to go through."

Both Bulma and Bra groaned in annoyance at Melvin's whiny tone.

"And I suppose that goes for everyone working here," Bulma asked. Both doctors nodded with frowns on their faces. Suddenly, doctor Hoofield's face lit up.

"I think I know somepony who could help us, though," she said.

"Some _pony,_ eh?" Bulma asked before noticing that her daughter was at her side now, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently.

"Bra, you don't have to stay here anymore if you don't want to," she said affectionately. "I'm sure there's a clothing store you'd rather be at."

Bulma giggled as her daughter exhaled a sigh of relief, the words 'thank you' escaping her mouth as she did. Bra slipped gracefully out of her lab coat, revealing her short red top that revealed her bellybutton, her red skirt, gloves and knee-high boots (Causing Melvin to have an explosive nose bleed that sprayed all over his lab coat). She carried it with her all the way to the doors at the front of the lab as Bulma returned to her conversation with Doctor Hoofield.

"As you well know, Mrs. Briefs," the yellow pony said. "After the defeat of that mean, old, Frieza guy, Princess Celestia's been sending ponies, mostly unicorns, over here to Earth to help out with putting the planet back together."

"Yeah, I remember," Bulma replied. "You little ponies sure helped out a lot with reducing pollution and creating a green-energy running world. Are you suggesting that I ask this Princess Celestia to send someone over to help us out with this?"

"Actually," Doctor Hoofield said. "There's a unicorn already on her way. She managed to get into contact with my husband and I about getting a place to stay while she was establishing herself on this planet. She's a real studious type. Loves to read and study, mainly about unicorn magic and general history."

"Studious in history?" Bulma queried. "That's promising. What's her name and when will she be here."

"Her name's Moondancer, Mrs. Briefs." Doctor Hoofield replied. "And judging by the how far away she told us she was when she contacted us, I'd say it would take about three days for her to touch down in West City."

"This is great," Bulma said, cheerily. "Please, try and get me in contact with her when you can. It would mean a great deal to me to have the answer to this question." _It's also something I can tell Vegeta,_ she thought to herself as she turned back towards the lab doors. There were many questions that needed answering and things were about to get very interesting for her and her friends if what she suspected was true. In the meantime, she had an email and a cheque to write, just in case...

 **Author's Notes: Another chapter through, and it looks like a helping hoof will be arriving in three days time. Coming up next, was Zackary always this hungry? It doesn't look like he or his family will be able to afford to satisfy his newfound appetite, but maybe a certain former martial arts champion with some cash to throw around can come to the rescue. Be sure to tune in to the next Chapter of Dragon Ball Harmony!**


	3. Zackary's Veracious Appetite

"Zack! Get dressed! We're taking you to lunch!" Zackary heard his father call out to him from upstairs. He quickly stood up after doing his 100th pushup and began searching frantically for his going-out clothes.

It had only been a day since he had escaped hospital, and the first night sleeping in his own bed was the best sleep he had since getting cancer. Although, finding his clothes was proving to be a challenge for him, as his bedroom now seemed so unfamiliar after more than 11 months of being away from it. He had his bed in the far right corner of the room and a computer desk in the far left. A basket for dirty clothes stood in between bed and desk. On the other side of the room, the side that Zackary was facing, there was a large wall cupboard that occupied the middle of the wall, with the bedroom door opposite the desk. Zackary had half his body buried in the cupboard, searching for a specific shirt, pair of jeans and jacket, with no success.

"Come one, Zack!" his father's voice rang out from upstairs again. "We need to get a move on!"

Exasperated, Zackary picked up a white button-up shirt with blue stripes and a pair of black dress pants and threw them on as quick as he could before charging his bedroom door open and racing down the hallway. He rounded the right hand corner at the end and leaped up the flight of stairs three steps at a time. He saw his father waiting for him at the top of the stairs, clearly impatient. His look of impatience quickly softened into a smile once Zackary reached the top of the stairs.

"Ready to go, then?" his father asked. Zackary replied with a nod, before his middle brother, McKenzie, asked him a question.

"Don't you want to put shoes on?"

Zackary looked down at his feet to see that he was still wearing his black and blue flip-flops. He fell backwards in shock…

… down the stairs.

As he tumbled down, he could hear the shrieks of his mother for his two brothers to help him. He landed at the bottom with a thud, sprawled out face down on the floor.

 _Well, at least I'm exactly where I need to be,_ he thought as he casually stood up and brushed some of the dust off his shirt. He turned around to see his two brothers' worried faces looking down to him from midway up the stairs, as well as the shocked faces of both his parents from upstairs. Zackary gave them a thumb up, as he didn't feel any different from before he had his unfortunate tumble. He saw all of his family members exhale a sigh of relief.

"I'll just get some shoes on and then I'll head back up," Zackary called up to them, laughing softly as he returned to his bedroom.

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The rest of the day went smoothly. Zackary got his shoes on, they all clambered into the car and set off to their destination (of which Zackary did not yet know). The city seemed to be busy as usual, with the regular hustle and bustle of food hawkers, couriers, and people in general going about their jobs. The car then pulled into an open space in the curb. Zackary looked out the left window in the direction of the curb and his eyes immediately widened in excitement…

'Bao's Yam-Cha Restaurant' was displayed in green lighting atop a temple-looking building with a curved roof. Two golden pillars held up said roof in front of a glass door, allowing the sites of food and people inside the establishment. Zackary suddenly felt and heard a great growl in his stomach, signaling his hunger to everyone in the car, much to the amusement to his parents.

"I thought you might be hungry," his father said as he switched off the engine. "And yes, we are indeed having Yam-Cha!"

Without waiting for any of his family members, Zackary threw the car door open and joyfully sprinted towards the entrance of the restaurant. He was almost at the golden pillars when his mother's aggravated voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Zackary! What do you think you're doing? Why are you running off like that?" She yelled out the car window. Zackary slowly turned around to see his very annoyed mother and his shocked father staring through him from the car. His two brothers, meanwhile, were rolling around the back of the car in a fit of laughter. Zackary sheepishly began scratching the back of his head and softly chuckling to himself.

"Sorry, guys," he called back to his family. "I guess I was so hungry I got carried away a little bit there."

"I told you we should have done this next week, David," Zackary heard his mother telling his father in a raised voice. "I've never seen him act so childish like this before!"

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The five of them reunited and found themselves seated in the middle of the restaurant. Waiters with trolleys full of delicious food of all kinds circled the room, delivering dumplings, fried seafood, chicken dishes, pork dishes and other delicacies that made Zackary's mouth water with delight. After a minute of sitting, a waiter with a trolley full of small round bamboo baskets stopped at their table.

"Any prawn dumplings or dim sims?" he asked politely.

"Can we have two of each, please?" Zackary's mother asked. The waiter nodded with a smile and picked four baskets out of his trolley and placed them on the table. He then pulled a stamp out of his pocket and stamped four boxes in a gridded piece of paper that was lying on the table before moving on to the next.

"Dig in, everyone!" Zackary's father announced. All five of them pounced on the dumplings and dim sims like hungry wolves with their chopsticks. This went on with every dish that they received. Around thirty minutes later, the family had had their fill of delicious food…

… except one…

Zackary was still busy furiously chowing down on his tenth bowl of fried rice, along with some salt and pepper squid and barbeque pork. Zackary hadn't remembered enjoying food so much before ending up in hospital. He suddenly felt his mother's hand on his arm. He looked up to see her face to see that she was ready to scold him.

"Zackary," she said. "You don't have to eat for the sake of eating. Only eat if you are still hungry."

Zackary looked down at his food, and began thinking. He was, in fact, still hungry. He didn't feel like he was even close to filling up despite having had ten bowls of fried rice, with some pork and chicken and beef and squid as well.

"But I am still hungry, mum," he replied.

"Are you just saying that so that you can finish everything?" his mother asked with narrowed eyes.

Zackary shook his head and replied again. "I legit feel hungry still. I don't even feel close to full."

Zackary then resumed his pig out session, leaving his family with their jaws hanging open and their eyes wide with disbelief.

About half an hour later, and Zackary was still hoeing into food like there was no tomorrow. He had ordered another four dishes and had even caught the attention of the wait staff with how many plates were beginning to pile up on his table.

"Zack," his father said softly to him, once again interrupting his feeding frenzy. "Don't you think you've had enough now?"

Zackary once again looked down at his plate in contemplation. He put and hand on his stomach and tried to feel how he was doing. It felt as if he had only just reached half way. He closed his eyes and shook his head before resuming, leaving his family even more flabbergasted than before.

"Was Zack always this hungry?" he heard McKenzie ask Jordan quietly.

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"Well, did I not tell you that this is the best Yam-Cha place ever?" Hercule Satan announced proudly as his family finished off their plates. He had chosen this place to treat his daughter, Videl, his son-in-law, Gohan, and his granddaughter, Pan, to a nice lunch to catch up with the family. Young Pan was growing up nicely at 17, and was becoming a skilled martial artist in her own right, and had even come dressed in her orange Turtle School gi. Gohan had become a professor at West City University and Videl was still a stay-at-home mom. Hercule thought that this would be a nice opportunity to take them all somewhere different for lunch.

Pan grinned widely, rubbing her tummy as she replied. "Yeah, Grandpa! This is the best place you've taken us to, yet!"

"How do you know about all these, places, dad?" Videl asked him.

Hercule rubbed his nose with his thumb before replying. "Well, now that I'm retired and I have all this money to throw around, I have a lot of time to travel and see all the different places this beautiful planet of ours has to offer." He looked over at Gohan and winked before continuing. "You know, before some evil guy threatens to blow it up again."

All four of them laughed over this comment. Ever since Goku and Vegeta beat Frieza, the world had been at relative peace for a long time. No gods of destruction, no evil aliens, not even evil androids. This gave Hercule the time he needed to retire while he was still the World Martial Arts Champion.

"How are we going to be able to afford this, David," Hercule suddenly heard a distressed woman's voice mutter. He turned around to the source of the voice and his eyeballs just about leaped out of their sockets. A family of five was seated around a table with an enormous stack of plates in the center. In the far side of the table, a young man, maybe Pan's age, or even in his early twenties, was putting food away like it were nothing, as his family looked worriedly onwards. Hercule was shocked because he had seen this sort of behavior before. In Goku, Vegeta, Goten, Trunks, even in Gohan and Pan on occasion.

At his own table, he could hear his family muttering to one another about the spectacle.

"Gohan," Videl said. "Do you think…?"

"No, that's impossible," Gohan replied.

"Could there have been others?" Pan asked. "You know, besides Grandpa?"

"They're all definitely human, though," Gohan replied. "I'm feeling their energy, and while that guy who's eating the restaurant out of business is significantly stronger than the rest, there's nothing about his energy that suggests that he's a…"

 _That family looks like they were completely unprepared for this,_ Hercule thoughts interrupted Gohan in his head. _Come on, Hercule! What kind of World Champion would you be if you didn't do anything to help these people._

"Give me a moment, everyone, I'm going to talk with this family for a little bit," Hercule said, standing up from his chair. He was still dressed in his purple gi and white track pants from when his was the Champion, so he figured they would recognize him despite the strands of grey in his afro. He calmly approached the woman and a large man sitting next to her and cleared his throat. The both turned around when he said this.

"Pardon me for interrupting your lunch, ma'am," Hercule began. "But I couldn't help but overhear your situation with your son's appetite. As it happens, I cater a lot for some of my friends who have these very same appetites, so it wouldn't be any trouble for me at all to help you out with the bill."

"Really," the woman replied, worriedly. "You'd do that? Are you sure, I don't want to impose or anything."

"Like I said before," Hercule said, raising a hand up in reassurance. "It'll be no trouble at all. I have quite the savings account, if you know what I mean."

The woman seemed dumbstruck by Hercule's offer, but she managed to get some words out. "I… I don't know what to say. Thank you, sir! Thank you!"

Hercule looked up to see that the young man had finally finished eating. He put down the bowl and rubbed his belly before looking up.

"Ah, now that really hit the spoooooOOOOOH MY GOD!" The young man suddenly became excited after locking eyes with Hercule. Hercule smiled and decided to respond.

"Young man, you have quite the appetite, dontchya?" he said before putting his fists on his hips and laughing heartily.

The boy was evidently even more dumbstruck than any of the other members of that family. "Y… you're… Mr. Satan!" he exclaimed shakily.

"Who?" the woman asked.

"The man who defeated the evil android Cell, mum!" the young man replied excitedly.

Hercule could feel his face going red when the young man said that. After all these years, people still remember and believe that lie.

After taking a moment to compose himself, he resumed his proud stance and announced, "Yeah, that's me alright! Now I may be retired now, but I could still kick that Cell back into his test tube if he ever showed his face again!" Hercule did his best fake hearty laugh to hide his embarrassment. He could feel his daughter, Videl, glaring daggers through him. He could also hear Gohan and Pan's sniggers at the situation.

"Zack, that was before you were even born," the large man at the table said. "How do you know anything of it?"

"They use him a lot for inspiration for the new students back at the Wing Chun School," the young man, named Zack, explained, before turning back to Hercule. "I wish I had one of my training shirts on me, Mr. Satan," he continued. "I had no idea I'd be meeting you in the flesh today!"

"Let's worry about autographs after we get your cheque payed," Hercule stopped Zack with a hand. "Why don't you introduce me to this wonderful family of yours, now?"

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After a little explaining, Theddi had learned about the battle that took place between Mr. Satan and Cell, and how Mr. Satan somehow beat him. This apparent celebrity, Mr. Satan, didn't seem like he was really truthful about the whole event to her, but he did pay for their meal, so she didn't ask questions. As they all walked out onto the street, she got acquainted with Mr. Satan's family; his daughter, Videl, her husband, Gohan, and their daughter, Pan, who was about Jordan's age. While the young adults were chatting with one another, David was engaged in conversation with Gohan and Videl, leaving her with Mr. Satan, whose first name, she learned, was Hercule.

"So I hear your son is practicing martial arts," Hercule said. "I've never heard of this 'Wing Chun' School, but I'm sure young Zack is mighty strong with it."

"Oh, yes," Theddi replied. "He is quite talented with his martial arts. But he won't be able to return until next week."

She watched as Hercule raised one eyebrow before asking, "Oh? How come?"

Taking a deep breath, Theddi began to explain. "You see, he just got out of hospital yesterday after recovering from cancer. I'm not so sure his body is ready for such training yet."

"Well, after a feed like that, if he's not ready to get back into training, then I'm a monkey's uncle!" Hercule exclaimed, looking over to where the young ones were now laughing. Theddi looked over to them. They were probably laughing over something that Jordan had said. She then heard Hercule continue.

"Take it from a long time Martial arts expert," he said. "A man's motivation is highest right after he has conquered his greatest obstacle in life. Now's the best time for him to resume his martial arts training, so he can come back stronger than ever."

Theddi looked up at the man. He seemed genuine about what he was saying, unlike when he was bragging about his defeat of Cell.

"You really think it's safe for him to train this soon after recovering?" She asked him. Hercule replied with a nod.

"I have a really close friend of mine who had a horrible heart disease," he said. "He went straight back to training the morning he recovered. And he came back even stronger than he was before." He turned back to the group of youngsters before continuing. "I know a doctor probably told you that it's not such a good idea, but who are you gonna believe: a professional drug peddler or a professional martial artists who knows what he's talking about?"

Theddi looked over at her sons chatting with Pan. She smiled as she saw them all laughing together. She remembered how happy Zackary was when he succeeded in his first grading. After a brief moment, she called out to Zackary.

"Zack," she called out. "Do you know where your training uniform is in the house?"

Zachary shook his head, confused.

"I'll help you find them so that you can get back into your martial arts tomorrow," Theddi said, giggling to herself as Zackary leaped five feet into the air with excitement.

"Why don't your family and mine keep in touch, Theddi?" Theddi heard Hercule ask. She turned back to see him holding a piece of paper with a number written on it. Theddi smiled and nodded before pulling her smart phone out of her pocket.

 **Authors Notes: Looks like Mr. Satan saved the day! Zackary gets to resume his martial arts training once again, but how much of it does he remember? Will he be able to resume where he left off, or will he have to start from scratch again? Find out on the next chapter of Dragon Ball Harmony!**


	4. Return to the School of Wing Chun

**A/N: Yes! I've finally got this F**king chapter out! Sorry this took so long to update. Have you ever tried to write a chapter but had trouble because your brain was already 2 or more sagas ahead? This has been happening to me a lot lately and it's driving me nuts! Anyway, back to the story...**

The rest of the day resumed rather uneventfully. They all returned home, had a modest(ish) dinner that evening, and went to bed. It was the following day that Zack was excited about.

Zackary's mother had left his training cloths at the foot of his bed that night so that he could find them easily. There was also a big wad of cash that Mr. Satan had for some reason left in his had as he was shaking it sitting on top of them. Zackary put the cash aside and whipped on his training gear in a flash, starting with the plain white T-shirt, the thin fabric black pants, his socks and his kung-fu slippers and finally his red satin sash. It was amazing that he still remembered how to tie it correctly. The entire ensemble was much looser than he remembered, but he figured that it was because he lost al whole lot of weight while he was in hospital.

Zackary snatched up his backpack and the cash after he was finished and raced out his bedroom door down the hallway towards the stairs. However, instead of racing up the stairs to the front door, he took a left to a side door that lead to the garage. Zackary threw the door open and raced towards the garage door. Without thinking, he yanked the door upwards, causing it to open with such force that it flew right off the railings towards the back of the garage, narrowly missing the family car.

He winced as he raced towards the road. Zackary had never felt so much energy in his entire life, as he sprinted across the street before turning right towards the main road. His backpack bounced up and down, shaking his belongings around within with each stride. After just a few seconds, Zackary was on the main road and he turned left, where he could see a blue bus shelter with a few people in business attire waiting for the next bus. Zackary decided to slow down to a walk as he approached the bus stop. His stomach suddenly rumbled loudly, signaling that it was time for breakfast.

"I'd better go eat something before heading to Master Chu's," Zackary thought to himself as a blue and white bus pulled up to the stop reading 'Harbour City Centre – Via Freeway'.

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After a hearty breakfast at a corner café in the city, Zackary followed his memory as best he could to find the place he was looking for. Sure enough, after a right hand turn at a set of traffic lights, followed by a left hand turn at a small 4-way intersection, Zackary found what he was looking for; a tall white building with large wooden double-doors with a sign above them saying "Master Chu's School of Wing Chun – Please Enter".

Zackary took a deep breath in before he approached the doors. It had been so long since he had opened these doors last, and questions were buzzing around in his head. _Will my old training buddies still be here? Will they even know who I am anymore? Is Master Chu still alive?_ Zackary was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that he had almost walked right into the closed doors. Taking another deep breath, Zackary put his hand on the door and gave it a gentle push.

The door gave way easily, enabling Zackary to step inside and see the studio for the first time in 11 months. Not much had changed since his last visit, aside from the three wooden dummies on the right side of the room apparently being moved to the left. The studio was still just as wide and spacious as before, with its purple carpet and white walls lined with butterfly swords and long-poles. Around the room, students at the school were already going through their chi sao, or sticking hands exercise. Right at the very back of the wall was someone behind a desk who Zackary was most hoping to see. Sitting there was an elderly man with a round bald patch on his head and a long grey Manchu mustache. He wore a shiny clean long gown.

The man's eyes looked up at Zackary and immediately lit up with excitement. Zackary smiled before bringing right fist to left palm in front of his chest and bowing respectfully.

"It seems, Zackary, that you have conquered cancer after all," the elderly man called, prompting every student in the studio to look in Zackary's direction.

"Master Chu," Zackary replied happily. "I've returned to continue my training."

Master Chu stood up from his desk and began to walk around the room to where Zackary was. Zackary could hear some of the students muttering excitedly amongst themselves. A few voices he recognized, but others were new to him. After a few seconds, Master Chu was standing in front of Zackary. He stood only to Zackary's shoulder, but he stood tall and straight, not like other people his age.

"It is good to finally have you back, Zackary," Master Chu said. "But you had been bed ridden since the day you were diagnosed. We will need to see what skills you have retained and what skills need re-improving before we can simply start up where you have left off."

Zackary nodded in understanding. "It's great simply being here, Master," he replied.

Master Chu chuckled before continuing. "It is good to see that you have retained your enthusiasm. Come, let us begin." The Master turned around and led Zackary through the middle of the class, who had all resumed their chi sao.

Zackary followed his master to a small open space in front of a wall mirror on the left hand side of the studio. Though he could see in the mirror's reflection that the other students were busy with their own training, Zackary felt as if all eyes were on him in that moment. He had spent little under a year in that hospital, so he was nervous to see how much he had to revise.

"Zackary," he heard his master's voice call to him. "Do you remember the Siu Nim Tao form?"

Zackary nodded and brought his feet together. _I hope a do remember this,_ he thought to himself. He began with raising his arms from his sides forward and upward until his hands were in line with his nose, before rolling his wrists outwards until his palms were facing the ceiling, where he formed fists and pulled them back under his armpits. After this, he bent his knees slightly, and then pointed his toes outwards, before pushing his heels past his toes so that his toes were now pointing inwards. He settled comfortably in his stance a lot faster than he remembered doing it prior to going to hospital.

 _So far, so good,_ he thought to himself. He then continued with the movements of the form, staying as relaxed as he possibly could, making sure to push he movements out from the elbow and not from the wrist, keeping his shoulders back in position as his arms moved forward, all the while trying to think forward too. As he made it through to the palm strikes from his right to his left shoulder and then out down his centerline, Zackary realized something…

…Not only was he able to remember it move by move…

… He also found it incredibly easy to do it correctly.

Keeping everything in line, from his shoulders down to keeping his legs relaxed, took far less effort now than it did before he went to hospital. It was as if his body already knew what to do, and was now going through the form perfectly without his command. After finishing off with the six centerline punches, he pulled both fists back under his armpits while sliding his left foot over to his right until they were together again. He took a deep breath and exhaled as he relaxed his arms down.

Zackary looked back over at Master Chu, who was beaming at him with wide eyes and a small smile on his lips.

"I don't know what you were doing in that hospital, Zack," the old master said. "But it seems your Siu Nim Tao form has improved greatly! You were nowhere near this level of mastery of the form before you were diagnosed. You've surprised me, young one."

"I seem to have surprised myself, master," Zackary said as he looked down at his hands. _How did I do that?_ He thought to himself. _This should not have been this easy after lying in a hospital bed for 11 months._

Master Chu nodded and turned to the students. "Charlie! May I borrow you for a moment, dear boy?" he asked in the direction of the other students. A blonde haired young man broke off chi sao with his partner, a woman with deep red hair and bowed respectfully to her before walking up to where Zackary and Master Chu were standing.

"So, Zackary," Master Chu asked, turning back to face Zackary. "You remember Charlie?"

Zackary of course, did. He was Zackary's senior when he first joined, and it seemed that Charlie was a few levels higher, now, made evident by the sky blue and yellow triangular badge on his right shoulder. Zackary nodded in confirmation and bowed respectfully to him.

"It's good to see you out of hospital, Zack," Charlie said, returning the bow.

"It's good to be back here, training, Charlie," Zackary replied with a smile.

Master Chu nodded with a smile before continuing. "Seeing as you have damn near mastered the Siu Nim Tao form, how about we really test your skills. How about a sparring match against a second-level student."

Zackary gulped hard when he heard this. He had just managed to achieve fourth- _grade_ before he had to go to hospital, and Charlie was already leagues ahead of him. He had also never been in a sparring match against someone more advanced than he was. The idea made him nervous, but he also felt… eager. In fact, for some reason, he felt more eager for this match than any before, and it eventually began to overcome his nervousness. With a proud and determined smile, Zackary nodded and faced his new opponent.

"Are we ready, then?" Master Chu asked, looking at both Zackary and Charlie. Zackary noticed out of the corner of his eye that the rest of the class had stopped their sticking hands to view the fight. He pointed his toes out, then his heels and settled into his stance before putting up he guard, one open hand in front of the other, with the fingertips on his centerline. Charlie followed suite, settling into his stance and guard. The two students anxiously waited for the signal that would begin the match. After a long few seconds, it finally came.

"Begin!" Master Chu called out.

Zackary watched as Charlie took a step forward in an attempt to punch past his guard. He also watched as his own body punched through Charlie's attack at his face while simultaneously landing a heel-kick on Charlie's now forward leg. He suddenly latched down on his opponent's extended arm and turned his heel kick into a hook kick, slamming his shin into Charlie's gut, pivoting into the kick on his supporting leg. This knocked some saliva out of Charlie's mouth. When his kicking leg returned to his side, Zackary used the momentum of that to strike at Charlie's cheek with a sideways palm strike, sending Charlie reeling backwards from the force of that strike.

Zackary looked down at his hands for a brief moment. _I can't believe that I caught him with a second-grade technique,_ he thought to himself. He looked up again to see that his opponent had recovered and was now on the offensive once again. Zackary brought his guard back up just as Charlie began a flurry of chain punches aimed straight as his nose. Zackary found himself marveling at his own abilities as he began to turn the tables on his more advanced classmate, forcing him back one step with every punch that was deflected off his guard. Eventually, Zackary saw an opening and took it, sending his rear fist flying at breakneck speed into Charlie's chin, causing him to once again stagger backward.

 _H- how? How did I suddenly become this good at fighting?_ Zackary thought to himself as his opponent once again advanced on him for a head on attack. This time, Charlie's attacks had become sloppy. He sent a punch flying at Zackary from under his armpit. Zackary meet the attack with a tarn sao, an upward facing palm straight down his center line, redirecting Charlie's punch off its target: Zackary's face, and to the outside of Zackary's tarn sao. The force of Charlie's punch sent him off in the direction his fist was now travelling, creating another opening for Zackary to exploit. He pivoted his whole body in Charlie's direction to deliver a blow to his ribs with an open palm from his other hand. He then turned this hand up into tarn sao and followed the contours of Charlie's shoulder until he reached his arm, before directing it down in a circular motion away from his face, creating yet another opening for Zackary's former hand to deliver another palm strike. Charlie's body had opened right up after this strike, prompting Zackary to finish the match there with a thrusting heel kick to the chest.

Unfortunately, Zackary overdid it with this attack, as Charlie was suddenly sent flying towards the windows at the other end of the studio. The whole class and Master Chu watched on as Charlie bounced on the floor before flipping into the window. Luckily, it was already open otherwise Charlie would have been covered in cuts and glass. Instead, he landed on the sill, with his upper half outside the window and his lower half resting on the floor inside the studio.

The students stared wide-eyed at the sight of a fourth-grade student suddenly defeating a second-level student mere days after an 11 month hiatus. Even Zackary stood there in a state off shock with his chin resting on the ground. He eventually came too when his heard Master Chu approach him from his left side.

"Charlie was more than two levels more advanced than you," the old master muttered. "How? How did you beat him that easily?"

Zackary looked back down at his hands again before replying. "I don't know, master. It didn't even feel like it was me doing that. I felt like my body was just acting on its own without me having to tell it to do things."

Zackary turn back to Master Chu, who's facial expressions had changed drastically from the shock and awe that it was in before. He was now looking up towards the ceiling with his brow furrowed, his thumb and index finger holding onto his chin. Meanwhile, he heard the other students helping Charlie out from the open window. Master Chu turned back to Zackary with a smile on his face.

"It's been a very long time since I have asked any of my students this question," The old master began. "Zackary, how would you like to be my personal protégé?"

Zackary fell over backwards with his feet in the air after he heard that question. Master Chu's personal protégé? He had always dreamed of learning directly from the Master full time, ever since he had enrolled in Master Chu's School of Wing Chun three years ago. Zackary slowly recovered as he prepared his answer in his head.

"Master," he began, slowly placing each word deliberately into the sentence in an effort to retain some small amount of self-control before Master Chu. "I would like nothing more than to become your personal protégé." He got up to his knees and brought right fist to left palm in respect before bowing. He could not stop his hands from trembling with excitement, though, and the more they shook, the more effort it took to keep himself composed.

Master Chu smiled before replying. "I'm glad to see that you are eager. It seems as though you have mastered the beginner grade. I think it's time to bring you up to First Level."

Zackary looked up and beamed with small tears beginning to form in his eyes, at which Master Chu began to chuckle.

"There is no need for tears, Zackary," the old master said. "Come, let us begin your new training at once."

Zackary sniffled and tried to dry his eyes as he stood up to follow Master Chu. The rest of the class had begun their attack and defense drills or were sitting with Charlie and helping him with his injuries. Zackary followed Master Chu to his desk at the back of the studio, where there was a small amount of space separate from the class. Zackary had never been this close to Master Chu's desk before, and apart from a few books and a fountain pen, it was rather empty. However, one thing that did grab Zackary's attention was an orange sphere sitting right in the middle of the desk. There was a large crack in the top of it, as if it had been dropped on the floor one too many times. However, the most interesting feature was the single red star right in the center of the sphere.

"There is an interesting legend behind that ball," Master Chu's voice suddenly interrupted Zackary's deep inspection of the mysterious object. "There are actually six more just like that one."

Zackary looked up at his master and tilted his head before asking, "What's the legend behind them?"

Master Chu took a deep breath before continuing. "They have a few names, although the most popular two are wishing orbs and Dragon Balls. It is said that if all seven are collected, they will grant any wish to the one who brought them together. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, or if there is any at all, but I keep it anyway as a curiosity."

"How did you find it?" Zackary asked. "Was it always cracked?"

"I found it when I was on holidays in Beach City," Master Chu explained. "A woman had tossed it over her shoulder, muttering about it being damaged and worthless. I guess she didn't realize that I was standing right behind her, because it landed right in my hands. If she had known about the legend behind this orb, I'd wager that that woman would not have tossed it away so carelessly, even if it weren't true. But I have to wonder…" Master Chu began to look deep into the sphere, making Zackary a little uneasy. After a few seconds, though, the old master snapped back to reality and waved his hand at the ball dismissively. "No time for pondering such matters," he said. "Your training is more important."

Master Chu lead Zackary out to the small space in front of the desk. Zackary got into his stance and put his fists underneath his armpits in preparation for his training.

"Let's begin with learning the Chum Kiu form," Master Chu said, putting his feet together and motioning for Zackary to do the same. "Follow my movements as best you can."

 **Zackary: G'day, it's me, Zack! I'm so excited to be Master Chu's personal apprentice, but how the hell did I beat a student two levels more advanced than me?**

 **Bulma: I hope this Moondancer can help us figure out what you are, Zack!**

 **Zackary: Well, we'll find out in the next chapter: Moondancer Arrives... With Answers?**


	5. Moondancer Arrives

Bulma stood with Dr. Hoofield at the edge of a concrete landing zone, staring up at the sky at an approaching ship. Or rather, she assumed that it was a ship, as it looked like a light purple coloured egg with golden rings about a third of the way from the top and the bottom. A small group of Saiyans – survivors of Frieza's reign who migrated to earth after Goku defeated Golden Frieza – in full saiyan armour, congregated around the landing pad, looking up at the approaching object suspiciously. Bulma smiled softly as she saw them, admiring how far they had come from the planet conquering marauders they were so used to being.

The 'ship' approached the landing zone slowly until it was a few inches off, where it simply hovered in its place. Bulma extended her left arm out to the side, signaling for her Saiyan security detail to stand down. They seemed to relax a little bit as they backed off. Bulma then turned back to the ship just as an apparent door started to open.

A bright light suddenly shone from the bottom on the bottom of the side facing Bulma, and seemed to extend all the way to the landing zone. It shone for a few seconds, and faded slowly to reveal, to Bulma's surprise, a flight of pink and purple stairs leading to a very ordinary looking square door.

"Did all of you get in and out of your ships like this when you came to Earth?" Bulma asked her equine employee.

Dr. Hoofield nodded before replying. "Princess Celestia designed these things for functionality over aesthetics. But, hey, it beats a giant green space finger, am I right?"

Bulma shuddered as she remembered the incident in Beach City. "Don't remind me, Dr. Hoofield! The Saiyans were ready to rip Beach City to pieces to kill those gems. It was all my husband could do to hold them back."

The door to the ship opened just as Bulma finished her sentence. At its entrance was a cream coloured pony with a straight and flat red mane and tail, each with two strips of two different shades of purple next to each other running through them. There was a horn sticking out through her mane, indicating to Bulma that she was in fact a unicorn, but what really caught Bulma off guard was the disproportionately large spectacles that sat precariously on her muzzle and didn't seem to be holding onto anything else, with the arms underneath her ears. Behind said glasses were bright violet eyes. The unicorn also sported a cresent moon with two stars on either side on her flank.

Bulma put on the most 'normal' smile she could muster as she approached the pony, who was now descending the steps from her ship.

"You must be Moondancer," Bulma greated her. "My name is Bulma Briefs. I'm the CEO of the Capsule Corporation. Welcome to Planet Earth."

Bulma knelt down slightly and extended her hand to the unicorn, who placed her hoof in it before replying.

"Thank you, Mrs. Briefs!" she said excitedly. "I never thought that I'd ever be leaving Canterlot, let alone my home world. And I never would have imagined that Earth and Equus would look so similar from space." Moondancer waved her hoof at the sky before looking around the docking bay in awe.

Bulma looked around the landing zone and sighed in relief as the Saiyans had dispersed into the sky.

"Can I get you anything, Miss Moondancer?" Bulma asked, turning back to her guest. "Maybe we could have a little walk around town so that you could get acclimatized to the increased pressure of gravity on Earth?"

Moondancer raised her hoof and shook her head politely. "I've been doing my research on Earth the whole trip here," She replied. "I believe that I am fully prepared for life on this new world." She put her raised hoof on her chin before continuing. "I would like to see a bit more of Earth, though. But not before I help you with your mystery saiyan."

Bulma suddenly perked up and she felt her smile grow wider. "Are you sure you can help us right away? I mean, I don't want to rush you into it or anything. You must've had a long journey to get here and…"

"It's no trouble at all, Mrs. Briefs," Moondancer interrupted. "In fact, I have some info on your missing Saiyan already."

"Really?" Bulma asked, wide eyed. "Wow, you are efficient! How did you know to look into that before getting here?"

"Mrs. McColt told me all about it when she called telling me about your dilemma," Moondancer replied, pointing her hoof in the direction of Dr. Hoofield.

Bulma turned to Dr. Hoofield with one eyebrow cocked. "McColt?" She asked. "I thought your name was Hoofield, doctor."

"McColt is my husband's name," Dr. Hoofield replied, crossing her front hooves in embarrassment. "It's a long and personal story."

Bulma smirked as she replied. "Another time, Dr. Hoofield, your gonna have to tell me that story, but for now, let's see what you've found, Moondancer."

Moondancer nodded before turning back to her ship. "Follow me."

The three of them made their way up the stairs to the door of the ship, which was still open. As Bulma stepped inside, she immediately felt much lighter. She also noticed that the inside of the ship was not the same as the outside. Inside seemed to look a lot bigger than Bulma thought it was supposed to look, and the walls were lined with bookshelves, all of which were packed with books. There was also a strange vibration that seemed to hang in the air inside the ship, as if the ship itself were… alive.

"Princess Celestia put a few enchantments on the ship to help me prepare for life on Earth," Bulma suddenly heard Moondance explain. "The two most useful ones were a consciousness spell, and a infinite encyclopedia spell."

"What do you mean by consciousness, Moondancer?" Bulma asked. She heard a soft giggle next to her. She turned to face Dr. Hoofield, who had a hoof up on her mouth.

"The enchantment makes the ship able to navigate itself and sense threats and obstacles, so that it never has to be piloted," the yellow pony explained.

"So, what, like some sort of super advanced autopilot?" Bulma enquired, to which Dr. Hoofield shook her head.

"Not really," Moondancer suddenly piped in. "It's not just a ship anymore, Mrs. Briefs, it's a sentient being."

Bulma put a hand on her chin and looked around again. "Well, that would explain the strange vibes I'm getting in this room," she said. "What about this, 'infinite encyclopedia' thingy?"

Moondancer's eyes widened and her smile grew as Bulma finished her question. She then quickly turned and trotted right to the center of the room and stopped, facing one of the bookshelves on the other side. Bulma watched as Moondancer's horn started to glow a light pink colour. After a few seconds, a few of the books on the bookshelf began to glow as well. Suddenly, a giant green frame materialized in front of Moondancer, as well as images of what appeared to be documents – more specifically, Capsule Corp.'s documents, one of which was an image of the DNA strand that the medical team had been looking into. Bulma felt her jaw hit the floor at the sight.

"You have a lot of… sensitive information here, Moondancer," Bulma managed to stammer.

Moondancer turn back to Bulma as she replied. "Don't worry, Mrs. Briefs, the room only shows me what they look like, I can't actually keep a copy of it. Basically, the infinite encyclopedia lets me see anything from past to present, weather or not it exists anymore or not."

"Wow, that's impressive," Bulma marveled. "Does this mean that you've already been looking into our little mystery on the way here?"

Moondancer nodded as her horn glowed once again. This time, a book on the shelf began to glow the same colour as her horn and levitated off the shelf towards Moondancer. Moondancer reared up on her hind legs and caught the book with her front hooves before turning to Bulma and extending the book to her. It was an old looking leather-bound hard-cover tome titled "The Legend of King Arthur".

Bulma cocked an eyebrow once again before asking, "What does King Arthur have to do with our mystery saiyan?"

Moondancer waited for Bulma to take the book out of her hooves before she dropped back down to all fours and replied. "It's how I identified him in fact."

Both Bulma and Dr. Hoofield fell over backwards in shock with their legs in the air. Her best researchers had been sitting on this for a week and this unicorn had just identified their mystery in three days?

Bulma slowly recovered as Moondancer continued explaining.

"I started by tracing his family history on both his father and his mother's sides," she explained as the images projected in the square changed to show a map of the earth. "His father's ancestors stayed in the same place for most of their life until something happened to force his grandfather to migrate down to Harbour City. Beyond that, nothing really noteworthy from the father's side. His mother's side, on the other hand…" Moondancer's horn glowed again and some purple lines began making their way across the world map from the southeast corner where Harbour City was, right to the equator where a group of small islands were situated, before bouncing from city to city all the way to the Northwest corner, where it stopped on a place labeled, 'Old Camelot'.

"You traced his mother's family tree here?" Bulma asked.

Moondancer nodded and continued. "That's when I started reading about the legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Now since the mystery saiyan could not possibly be King Arthur himself, and it is highly unlikely that a being born from a race of warriors would simply hide away in Dark Age peasant society, I could safely narrow my search down to…"

"The Knight's of the Round Table," Dr. Hoofield finished the sencence.

"Correct," Moondancer replied with a big grin on her face. "So I began cross referencing each of the names of the different knights to known saiyans of that time. I discovered that this was around the same time of the first super saiyan god, so…"

"You know about the super saiyan god?" Bulma asked, Shocked that anyone outsider of her circle of friends would know about the Super Saiyan God power.

"The infinite encyclopedia hit me with that, to," Moondancer turned back to Bulma for a brief moment as she answered the question. "Anyways, non of the knights names sounded anything like 'Vegeta', but then, I stumbled upon some old records of a race of beings called the 'Tuffles'."

"The Tuffles were the race that inhabited the late Planet Vegeta, the old homeworld of the Saiyans," Bulma explained. "The old Saiyans drove them to extinction and claimed the planet for themselves." Bulma was indeed familiar with the Tuffles in Saiyan history, having heard a lot of it from her husband, the prince of all Saiyans himself, Vegeta.

"Well, it seems the Tuffles weren't without sin either," Moondancer replied as her horn glowed once again. The images in the square changed again to what appeared to be a laboratory report in a language that Bulma couldn't read. "The Tuffles were in the business of kidnapping certain species throughout the surrounding planets and bringing them back to their homeworld for experimentation. Among them, were Saiyans. This is where the Legend of King Arthur comes in."

Bulma turned back to Moondancer, who still had a big smile on her face. She began to listen intently as Moondancer continued her report.

"Among the Knights of the Round Table was a knight named Ser Percival, or Percy, for short," she said. The cream coloured unicorn turned back to the square where the document was and continued. "This document that we're looking at is a Tuffle report of an escape by a Saiyan named 'Parzli'. It also details that he appeared to be assisted by…" Moondancer paused for a moment as she attempted to read the report. "… someone named 'Perla'? Or maybe it was a gem who was a pearl…"

"So what you're saying is that Sir Percy and this 'Parzli' are one and the same, correct?" Bulma asked, looking down at the book that Moondancer gave to her earlier.

"Well, the date of this report lines up correctly with the date of his knighthood in the book," Moondancer responded. "Coupled with his Mother's lineage being traced right back to Camelot, that is the conclusion I came to in my research, Mrs. Briefs."

"You did all of this in three days?" Dr. Hoofield stammered. "Our best researchers here on Earth sat on this for a week and turned up nothing!"

Moondancer waved a hoof before replying, "It wasn't that difficult. Plus, you already know that reading and studying are my forte, Mrs. McColt."

Dr. Hoofield gave a loud exhale as Bulma got to thinking. _I'm glad to have been in contact with this pony,_ she thought. _This answers a lot of questions. So Goku really wasn't the first Saiyan on Earth after all. There was one here just under a thousand years prior._

Bulma smiled at Moondancer as she spoke. "Thank you, Miss Moondancer," She said. "You are a very efficient researcher, and quite frankly, someone that I could use on my team. I'd like to pay you for your efforts over the past three days, Moondancer." Bulma reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a tiny white capsule with a yellow strip. She clicked the button on the top of the capsule and it burst into smoke. When the smoke cleared, Bulma was holding a tablet with a wide screen with the Capsule Corp.'s bank account open.

"If you're going to get used to life here on Earth, you're going to need to get used to using electronic money," Dr. Hoofield stated, thankfully in a more composed manner. "Which means you'll need a bank account." Dr. Hoofield turned back to Bulma before continuing. "Mrs. Briefs, may I take Moondancer into town to help her set that up."

Bulma looked up from her computer screen to see Moondancer jumping up and down on her hooves with the biggest grin that she had ever seen on a pony. She nodded her head before responding. "I should get back home and do this, so I can be at home when Vegeta returns from Whis'." She clicked a small button on the back of the tablet, causing it to burst into smoke again, before reappearing as the capsule that she pulled out of her pocket before. "Be sure to send me Moondancer's new details so that I know where to make the payment to."

Dr. Hoofield started for the ships entrance when Moondancer approached Bulma.

"Thank you, Mrs. Briefs, for giving me this opportunity to learn more about your world," Moondancer said, extending a front hoof.

Bulma knelt down and shook the hoof as she replied. "No, thank you, Miss Moondancer. You've helped me out a lot today. Now I can finally put this case to rest. And besides, we've got a lot more of our world to show you while you're here!"

Moondancer nodded with a big smile fixed on her face. "I'm very much looking forward to it, Mrs. Briefs," she replied before following Dr. Hoofield to the entrance to the ship, with Bulma close behind.

 **Zackary: G'day, its me, Zack. I'm really happy to be training in martial arts, again.**

 **David: We're happy for you, Zackie!**

 **McKenzie: Wait, what was that?**

 **Jordan: An... Earthquake? But there are no fault lines anywhere near Harbour city!**

 **Theddi: David! Look out!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragon Ball Harmony: Disaster Strikes!**


	6. Disaster Strikes

After bounding up the steps to his front door, Zackary whipped his house key out of his pocket and inserted it into the keyhole with needlepoint accuracy. He turned the lock and swung the door open before turning right and heading straight for the lounge room, where his parents and two brothers were seated around the television.

"Hello!" he called out cheerily, waving his hand above his head. His family turned towards him and responded in turn as he joined them on one of the white leather couches. All of them were smiling, except for his father, who had a very irritated scowl on his face.

"How was your training today, Zack?" his mother asked him. "Do you remember all of your moves?"

Zackary nodded before replying. "Not only that, but I can do them even better than before. I even won a sparring match against a second level classmate!"

His mother and two siblings responded to this news with 'wow's and 'woah's, and even his father's annoyed scowl softened up a little.

"Master Chu was really impressed with that," Zackary continued. "So much so, in fact, that he offered to make me his personal protégé!"

"Awe, that's sick!" his younger brother, McKenzie, exclaimed. "Are you doing it?"

"Of course," Zackary replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'd be crazy not to! I've always wanted to be elevated to that since I first joined the School of Wing Chun. I was learning a new form from him today. The Chum Kiu form."

"You'll have to show us that when we're all together again," said his mother before wrapping her arms around Zackary's shoulders.

"Congrats, man," his youngest brother, Jordan, chimed in.

Zachary let go of his embrace with his mother as he replied. "Thanks, guys. Anyways, how has your day been?"

"Well," his father replied in a stern tone. "I've spent all day today fixing the GARAGE DOOR THAT YOU DESTROYED THIS MORNING! DID YOU NOTICE THAT IT WAS BACK TOGETHER AGAIN? I BET YOU DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT IT!"

Zackary cringed as his father's voice penetrated his ears. He had forgotten completely that he had done that on the way out of the house this morning.

"I… Sorry, Dad," Zackary stammered quietly as he felt his shoulders begin to hunch forward and his body begin to close up.

"David, will you give it a rest already," his mother intervened. "We did notice that he was a good deal stronger than before! He just got a bit excited about going back to Master Chu's, that's all! You've been bitching about this all day, and it's time to stop!"

Zackary looked up at his father as he sucked in a big breath of air into his nose before releasing it out through his mouth. He closed his eyes before responding, this time, to Zackary's relief, in a more relaxed tone.

"Well, what's done is done," he said. "I am glad that all is going well for you, Zackary. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Zackary shook his head as he responded. "No, Dad. I'm sorry for throwing the garage door off its hinges. I should have been more level headed when getting out of the house this morning."

After a moment of silence, Jordan spoke up again. "So, what's this email that you got from Capsule Corp. today, Mum?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," Zackary's mother responded, pulling her iPad out from behind her on the couch. "This email came in for us from the CEO of Capsule Corp. herself."

"Oh?" said Zackary as he tilted his head. "I wonder why the CEO is interested in my case?"

"Well, according to her," his mother continued. "Your strange DNA comes from my side of the family. Apparently I'm descended from one of the Knights of the Round Table. How they found that out, I have no idea."

"Surely there's more to it than that, though," Zachary's father said. "I mean, you saw what his DNA looked like, right? I'm pretty sure that doesn't belong in a human."

"That's as much as the email will tell me," his mother replied. "Anyway, I'm just glad that my son is with us again, happy and healthy."

Zachary's stomach suddenly grumbled loudly, shocking everyone in the living room.

"And hungry too, by the sounds of it," said McKenzie.

Mother chuckled as Zackary put on hand behind his head and put on a sheepish grin. "Well, we've got crispy pork belly and lots of vegies for dinner tonight." At the sound of this, Zackary's mouth began to water profusely, and everyone wore a wide grin.

"Yes!" Zackary exclaimed. "I can't wait!" Suddenly his stomach grumbled loudly again, causing a bit of discomfort for him. He wrapped his arms around his tummy and cringed. "No really, I can't!"

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"Aahh! That was delicious! Thanks, mum!" Zackary said out loud after he finished his last mouthful. He had taken his time eating this time around, so that he didn't have to sit there and watch his family eat. The others were all smiling and rubbing their tummies, showing their gratitude at a dinner well done. Zackary's mother was impressed with herself as well.

"Well, that was a fantastic dinner, even if I do say so myself!" she exclaimed. The others responded with affirmative noises.

"Well, I guess we'd better clear everything away, then," Zackary's father said, spurring the whole family into action. They each picked up their plates and began taking them to the kitchen sink, when suddenly the whole room shook violently, throwing everyone off balance for a brief moment. Zackary paused, and tried to stand completely still, trying to feel for the next tremor.

"What was that?" he asked.

"An Earthquake?" his mother asked.

"Impossible," Jordan said. "There are no fault lines anywhere near Harbour City."

Just as he finished this sentence, the whole room shook again, just as violently, this time causing Zackary to throw his plate straight onto the floor. The family waited around the table in silence, waiting for another violent lurch. After a full thirty seconds, the table began to vibrate slowly.

"I think this is an Earthquake, Jordan," the father said worriedly.

"That's not possible," Jordan once again stated. "We have our own-"

Suddenly, it happened. A giant lurch sent the whole house shaking violently, this time continuously. The floorboards were quickly beginning to give way. Zackary tried to get to his mother to help her move, but the house was shaking so much that he could barely take two steps himself. Suddenly, the floor completely gave way, sending all five of them tumbling to the ground on the lower level. Zackary looked up as he was falling to see the ceiling following them down. This was the last thing he saw before loosing consciousness.

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Zackary opened his eyes just in time to see a pair of wooden planks being lifted off of him. The sky was a dark grey, but Zackary knew that it must've been morning already. He looked up at his saviours and saw that they were both wearing firefighter's uniforms and hats. It took a while for his hearing to return to normal, but when it did, he realized that they were trying to speak to him.

"Hey, mate! Look at me!" One of them was shouting. "Can you hear me?"

Zackary nodded slowly as he started to regain feeling in the rest of his body.

"Can you move? Can you stand at all, mate?" the other firefighter asked him.

Again, Zackary slowly nodded and he rolled onto his side and pushed himself up onto his knees, and then stood up on his feet from there. He turned back to the firefighters and asked, "Did you find my family?"

"We did, mate," the first firefighter responded, pointing to the road. "They're just down on the road in that ambulance.

Zackary looked down in the direction that he was pointing and saw his mother and two brothers sitting just out of an ambulance door. His eyes widened and he quickly bounded over the rubble towards them (much to the amazement of the firefighters, who began wondering if he even needed rescuing in the first place). When he reached the, they all pulled each other into a hug, and held it here for a few seconds. After they let go, Zackary realized that someone was missing.

"Guys," he said. "Where's dad?"

He looked to his brother, McKenzie, who, like his mother and Jordan, was wearing a solemn look on his face. He pointed out behind Zackary. Zackary turned to see a hospital bed being wheeled into an ambulance, with what looked like a body under a white sheet. Zackary suddenly realized what McKenzie had meant. He fell to his knees and could feel tears forming in the front corners of his eyes, when suddenly, he heard a familiar voice.

"Zackary! Mrs. Jutzon!" Zackary turned around to see a square faced man with a pair of armless glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, with broad shoulders and wearing a white coat running towards them.

Zackary let him approach before responding. "Dr. Eichmann," he said, solemnly.

The Doctor stopped and began panting as he responded. "It iz good to see zat you are ok."

Zackary shook his head at this before turning back to the ambulance that his father's body was being wheeled into. "Not really, Doctor." The sound of his mother's loud sobbing filled his ears for a few seconds before Dr. Eichmann responded.

"I am sorry for your loss, Zackary," he said. "It iz alvayz heart-wrenching to looze your family, especially under such extreme circumstanzez."

"There aren't even supposed to be earthquakes in Harbour City," Jordan's sad voice rang out. "It shouldn't have been possible."

"Zis iz not ze only anomaly, I'm afraid," Dr. Eichmann replied, iphone in hand. Zackary and his remaining family members looked towards Dr. Eichmann's phone, confused. There was a news report playing on the screen.

"…now for more unexplained earthquakes and other disasters around the world, from tidal waves rushing in as far inland as Syria, to an unexplained desert sandstorm in South City. They have been dubbed as 'Unnatural Disasters," the news anchor said, as images of cities in different parts of the world after being ravaged by various disasters.

"It's as if ze whole vorld decided to shake itself apart. All at vonce." Dr. Eichmann continued solemnly. "I vish I could uze zis sing to contact my on family."

 _Wish_

 _Wish_

 _Wish…_

The word echoed in Zackary's mind, triggering another memory from his first days of training since getting out of hospital.

 _They have a few names, although the most popular two are wishing orbs and Dragon Balls. It is said that if all seven are collected, they will grant any wish to the one who brought them together._

Zackary felt his eyes widen as he realized. _Of course!_ He thought. _If there's a chance that the legend of the Dragon Balls is true, then I can wish Dad back to life!_

Zackary turned back to his family, with a new fire of determination burning in his heart.

"I'm sorry to leave you guys now," he said. "But there's something I have to do for all of you."

"Wait," his mother called to him. "Where are you going, Zackary?"

Zackary smiled before he responded. "I'm going to find a way to undo all of this!"

His mother, his two brothers, and Dr. Eichmann were all stuck in a state of shock from what they heard. After a little while, his mother spoke up again.

"How are you going to _undo_ this, Zack," she demanded. "It could take years to rebuild everything in the entire world, and nothing you do is going to bring back your dad!"

"Maybe there is a way," Zackary replied before looking to Dr. Eichmann in silence. The doctor took the hint and excused himself from the family talk. After he was gone, Zackary continued.

"Master Chu… had something at his office while I was there. Something he called a 'dragon ball'. He told me that there was a legend that said that the dragon balls could grant a wish to anyone who finds them."

"And this 'dragon ball' that Master Chu has is going to bring back your father?" his mother asked, skeptically.

"Not on its own," Zackary explained. "But if I found all seven of them, then it's said that I could get any wish granted."

"Zackary," his mother replied, exasperated. "That is a _Legend!_ You're going to leave your family here on the whim of a whisper?"

"If there is even the slightest chance that this legend is true, then yes," Zackary insisted. "I'm sorry, but I can't just let this opportunity go."

"What if the legend turns out to be false?" his mother demanded again. "You'd have gone on a wild goose chase for nothing!"

"What if the legend turns out to be true, mum?" Zackary countered. "We can have dad back, our house back, our old life back. And besides, given that Jordan, our resident physicist, told us that earthquakes in Harbour City should be impossible, is the idea of seven magic orbs that can grant wishes really so hard to believe anymore?" Zackary saw his mother look down to her left, a sign that the cognitive wheels in her head were turning.

"I mean, Mr. Satan fought and defeated an android bug-monster, for God's sakes!" he continued. "I bet that would have seemed really far fetched before Cell even showed up. I'm sorry mum, but I have to go and find them so that our family can be together again."

Zackary turned back to the rubble and started heading for what used to be his house.

"Zackary," he heard his mother call him. He stopped and turned back to her to see her running towards him. She collided with him and wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a tight embrace. Zackary smiled and wrapped his arms around her neck and returned it. He felt a single tear fall from his eye as they held their hug for a long time. After they let go, his mum wiped here eyes before speaking.

"Promise you'll be home when you're done," she said.

Zackary gave a small smile before replying. "I promise."

He turned back to the rubble and broke into a run. There were a few things that he hoped to salvage before he began his journey.

 **Zackary: G'day, it's me, Zackary. It's a long shot, but I gotta find those dragon balls. I'll start with Master Chu's, but what happened to him when all the earthquakes hit Harbour City. Find out next time on Dragonball Harmony: A Call to the Stars!**

 **Twilight Sparkle: Huh? My Cutie Mark is glowing again! Where am I being summoned to now?**


	7. A Call to the Stars

**A/N: What's this? Another chapter? Brace yourselves everyone, this is a long-ass chapter, but the main pony character is being introduced now! Let's see what everyone is up to...**

Zackary had managed to salvage a white T-shirt, a leather jacket, a pair of jeans, his black canvass shoes and his wallet containing what was left of the cash that Mr. Satan had given him before heading off to the City. It was a long trek through the demolished suburbs, and there were no places to get food anymore (much to Zackary's disappointment). His trek took him well into the night by the time he reached his destination: the Wing Chun School.

Zackary looked on in sadness at the sight of what was left, which was nothing more than a pile of bricks and concrete. Not even the sign was in one piece, as splinters of it could be found all along the road. A number of emergency workers were surrounding it – paramedics, police officers and firefighters – trying frantically to clear away the rubble, as if looking for something or someone. Zackary looked around some more to see a few bystanders, one who he recognized.

"Charlie!" he called out. The ginger haired man turned around to him with a glum look on his face.

"Zack," he called back. Zackary walked to his side and stared into the mess with him.

"What are they all digging for?" Zackary asked.

"Survivors," Charlie replied simply. "They think that Master Chu is somewhere in that rubble.

Zackary's pupils dilated when he heard this. He saw a group of firefighters and police officers suddenly rush towards what looked like a big slab of concrete.

 _If Master Chu is in there, then I have to get him out!_ Zackary thought to himself before suddenly bolting forward towards the slab. A few police officers tried to stop him by trying to stand in his way, but Zackary effortlessly sidestepped them until he reached the concrete slab. He bent over and grabbed the piece of concrete with his hands and, much to his own surprise as well as the emergency team's, threw it off the rubble pile with very little difficulty. There, underneath that pile, splayed out with limbs going in all directions, was his martial arts teacher, Master Chu.

"Master!" Zackary cried out and leaped down to where Master Chu was. The old man was a mess, and an open cut on his forehead slowly seeped out blood. He was however, still conscious, as he opened his eyes slightly to look at Zackary.

"Z-Zackary," Master Chu stammered. "The legend… You must… f-fix the earth with…"

"The Dragonballs, master, yes," Zackary finished for him. "That's why I'm here."

Master Chu gave Zackary a faint smile before continuing. "You… are as clever as ever… Zackary." He then moved his right hand back to his chest, which was clutched around the dragon ball that was on his desk. "Take this one… first…" He wheezed. "Another… is in … Red Center Town… with… and old … friend of mine. It's at the end of a… railway… line. Just… take… the… train… th…" Before he could finish the last word, Master Chu slumped back, his eyes cast toward the heavens, unmoving.

Zackary stood up, a tear falling from each eye, knowing what he needed to do. He turned to one of the stunned police officers.

"Are the train lines still working, officer?" He asked.

Shakily, the officer nodded before replying, " Y-yes, sir. Strangely they're the only things that're still working. Not here in the city though. Out west there should be trains heading inland. The closest working one would have to be-"

"Blacktown," Zackary interrupted suddenly. He didn't know why that came out of his mouth, but apparently it was correct.

"H-how did you know?" the police officer asked. Zackary shrugged before climbing out of the rubble and heading off westwards towards Blacktown.

 _If I can get there by tonight, I can head to Red Center Town right away,_ he thought to himself, before breaking into a fast run.

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"Thanks for doing this for us, Pinkie," said Princess Twilight Sparkle. "It means so much to my brother and Princess Cadence that you're able to help them celebrate Flurry's 1st Birthday."

The pink mare known as Pinkie Pie, however, was two busy bouncing off the walls… literally, bouncing off the walls inside Sugarcube Corner with excitement.

"I'mcateringFlurryHeart's1stbirthdayohsweetCelestiathisisthebestdayofmylife!" she exclaimed ecstatically. Twilight could only giggle at Pinkie's antics. She did love a good party, and she was also the first to find out that Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were having a baby.

The doors to Sugarcube Corner opened again, this time an orange mare with a yellow mane wearing a stetson hat walked in. This was Applejack, Twilight's friend from Sweet Apple Acres.

"Well, if the cakes all ready, Pinkie," she said, with a strong southern accent. "I guess we aughta load it up with the ap…" She stopped suddenly and gasped, looking a Twilight's flank.

"What's wrong, Applejack?" Twilight asked before looking down to where Applejack was looking. She two gasped when she realized what had caused her friend to stop suddenly. Her cutie mark, a purple star with six points surrounded by five white stars, was flashing. Twilight immediately realized what this meant.

"The map!" she exclaimed softly before bolting to the door. "Come on everypony, let's get to the castle."

The three of them dropped everything and raced over to the castle, without bothering the check Pinkie's or Applejack's cutie marks. They galloped at full speed right through Ponyville all the way to the Castle of Friendship. It's crystalline tree-like base and tall purple spires stood as tall as ever. That didn't matter to the alicorn and her two earth pony friends, however. They were there for one reason and one reason alone.

Two more of her friends, a white unicorn with a dark blue mane, and a pinkish-purpleish unicorn with a dark purple mane with turquoise highlights, were staring at the laid out map of Equestria when Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Applejack burst through the door.

"Starlight, Rarity," said Twilight. "Did you see where the map was… sending… me?"

Twilight looked all over the map, but she could not find her cutie mark anywhere. She looked back at her flank again to find that it was still flashing. Twilight looked back at the map, befuddled.

"Uh, Twilight," she heard Applejack ask. "Where's the map supposed to be sending you to?"

"Maybe it's a secret spot, that you have to go hunting for, like one of your scavenger hunts," Pinkie Pie suggested.

"I don't understand," Twilight complained. "How can the cutie mark map be summoning me to n-" She was cut off by Starlight, the pinkish-purpleish unicorn, who put a hoof on Twilights mouth. After a couple of seconds, Starlight removed the hoof from her mouth and used it to point directly upwards. Twilight slowly looked up to where Starlight was pointing. To her amazement, there was her cutie mark, hovering some distance above the cutie mark map. Twilight felt her bottom jaw drop to the floor (and was soon followed by Applejack and Pinkie Pie). Her eyes dilated to pinpricks at the sight.

 _Where in Equestria is that!_ She thought to herself. _It's way to high to be Cloudsdale. Is there a place in Equestria higher than Cloudsdale?_

As the five ponies stared in awe at the sight, Twilight heard the hoofsteps of two more ponies, followed by and tomboyish voice that could only belong to a sky blue Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane and tail, Rainbow Dash. However, she was too dumbstruck by the fact that her cutie mark was hovering in mid air to acknowledge either her or the other pony's presence.

"Hey Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie. We saw you guys run all the way here. What's… going… on?"

"Um, Twilight," came a soft, timid voice. "Why is the cutie mark map summoning you to the sky?"

"I don't know, Fluttershy," Twilight finally responded. "I don't know if it's the sky, or somewhere in outerspace that I'm being summoned to."

"Is the map sending you to the sun or something?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Only one way to find out," Starlight Glimmer's voice suddenly chimed in. Twilight looked to her newfound friend with worry.

"I know, Starlight, but I guess I'm just afraid of where it might take me," Twilight responded. "It doesn't look like any of the others have been summoned, so wherever I'm supposed to go…"

"Well, we have to get to the bottom of this sometime, dear," Rarity suddenly cut in. "I mean, it looks lovely up there, but I don't imagine seeing your cutie mark flashing at you every time you sat down here would be very appealing to you, Twilight."

Twilight sighed before she replied. "You're right, Rarity. We need to figure this out." She turned back to her friends and spotted Rainbow Dash and the yellow Pegasus with a pink mane that covered half her face known as Fluttershy. "Brace yourself, girls," she continued. "I don't know what this will do."

She looked up at her floating cutie mark and tried to focus her magic on it. The moment her horn lit up, however, the room around them suddenly became darker. The seven ponies instinctively huddled together, with Fluttershy whimpering softly. Twilight let her magic down, but that didn't stop whatever was happening with the room.

The map on the table suddenly shrunk into the center of the table until it disappeared entirely. Twilight's cutie mark was still floating above the table, as the room continued to get progressively darker. Suddenly, white lines of light began to whiz past the seven ponies. Billions of them flew by, as if the ponies were watching a whole parade of shooting stars up close. The girls began to 'oohh' and 'aahh' at the spectacle, letting their tensions lower just a tad. Pinkie attempted to catch one with her hoof, and was disappointed when the light simply passed through her hoof, unaffected by the fact that it was there.

The light show suddenly stopped, and the lines became dots in the distance. One particular dot in the center of the table was slowly becoming larger. The larger the dot became, the less white and the more yellow it appeared to be. Twilight could just make out a disorganized line of spheres coming into view as well. The seven of them seemed to pass by three small spheres, a large sphere with a ring shaped object surrounding it, an even bigger sphere that had red and white lines covering it, followed by what appeared to be a line of rocks. The rocks appeared to be heading straight for them. Fluttershy squeaked loudly and all of them ducked as they passed through them.

Beyond that, there were four more spheres, and the second one became the center of focus for the cutie mark map table. They passed a sphere that was completely red before slowing right down and drawing nearer to this second sphere, which was the center of their field of vision. This sphere was mainly blue, but it had patches of green, white, and sand-colour all over it. The cutie mark hovering above finally began to lower until it was right above this sphere. All seven ponies' mouths were agape and their eyes as big as saucers as they gazed in awe at the sight that they were seeing.

Twilight suddenly heard the pitter-patter of her young dragon assistant, Spike, entering the room.

"Hi girls," he said cheerfully. "You're all back so sooowhoah! Twilight! What happened to the map?"

Twilight was still too dumbfounded by what she was seeing. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on one's opinion of Pinkie Pie), Pinkie Pie answered for her.

"We went on a journey through OUTERSPACE," she replied. "You should have been here, Spike. First Twilight's cutie mark starts flashing while we're making cakes, then we run all the way here from Sugarcube Corner because we were making cakes at the time, then Rarity and Starlight were here and we all saw Twilight's cutie mark floating in the air. Then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy come along and Twilight uses her magic on it and then the whole room goes dark and then we were flying through the stars at SONIC RAINBOOM SPEEDS, and then we slowed right down and we explored a whole new solar system, then we dodged a bunch of asteroids and then finally we landed on this completely different planet that Twilight is apparently being summoned to! Did I mention that we were making cakes before this?" Pinkie finished off her spiel with a wide grin.

Spike looked at Pinkie Pie dumfounded for a moment before once again calling out to Twilight. "Uh… do you need me to take a letter, Twilight?"

"Uh… Yeah," Twilight replied, nodding her head slightly as she answered.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _It's been a while since I have written to you, but it seems I need your help once more._

 _My responsibilities as the Princess of Friendship have taken me to places all over Equestria to spread the message of Friendship, thanks to the cutie mark map in my new castle, but this time the map is sending me to a place not in Equestria, or even on our world, but on a completely new world altogether. This is a world that I know absolutely nothing about, nor do I have any books or other research material detailing the nature of this new world, and I was hoping that you may be able to shed some light on it._

 _Of course, being the Princess of all of Equestria, you would also have responsibilities of your own. However, I would appreciate any help you can provide in unveiling the mystery of this new world and in finding a means to travel to it. I look forward to your reply._

"Forever your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle," Twilight finished narrating to Spike as she continued to stare into the image of this new world that that was hovering over the cutie mark map table. It didn't look all that different from their own planet, Equus. Maybe the land masses on the oceans were different shapes and sat in different places, but the general make up of it was the same. She heard Spike's flames send the letter off to Princess Celestia, prompting her to turn back to her friends, who were all now sitting around the table. Twilight trotted over to her seat and plunked her flank down on it anxiously.

"Now we wait," she said, tapping the table with her hooves.

"You know, girls," Rarity began. "I didn't take note of this before, but now that I've had a closer look, this world looks to be in a bit of a shambles, doesn't it?"

Twilight looked up and the floating globe to see that Rarity was right. Cracks forming in the landmasses that went unnoticed to her the first time she looked upon this image were suddenly very noticeable now that her friend Rarity had brought her attention to it. There were also large tidal waves travelling too far inland for how big they were when they were at sea, and cities disappearing into mysterious crevasses that seemingly just appeared underneath them.

Applejack was the first to respond to Rartiy. "I hear ya, Rarity," she said. "Just what the hay is going on in this place?"

"Maybe it has something to do with what Twilight is being summoned there for," Fluttershy suggested.

"Unnatural weather patterns?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Isn't that a Pegasus thing?"

"Yes, Rainbow," Twilight responded, placing a hoof on her chin. "But the cutie mark map has traditionally sent us out to solve friendship problems."

"Still," Spike began. "I don't remember it ever sending just one pony before. Why is it sending Twilight and Twilight only?"

"Why indeed."

All seven ponies and the young dragon turned toward the source of the new voice. Standing there was a white alicorn with a green, pink and blue mane, wearing a golden crown and neclace, with a purple diamond shaped jewel in each. Standing next to her was a being with pieces from different creatures, with the head of a pony, the left paw of a lion, the right claw of an eagle, the right rear claw of a dragon and the left rear hoof of a pony, all attached to a dark red serpent like torso. While Twilight was very surprised to see this mismatched individual, it was the alicorn that she was more interested in.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight called with excitement, hopping out of her throne and bounding cheerfully toward her mentor. "I wasn't expecting you to come in pony! I'm glad you were able to take some time out of your-"

"Actually," Princess Celetsia interrupted. "I was just out on a date with Discord here when I received your letter. We both thought it would be a good idea to come along and see just what you and your friends had discovered."

"Wait," Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. "You two are dating, now?"

Discord, the mismatched creature, giggled before replying, "Oh don't sound so surprised, Dashie! I can be quite the gentlecolt when I want to." A monacle and a top hat manifested suddenly on Discord's face and head, prompting a giggle from Princess Celestia.

After a brief moment of confusion, Twilight shook herself back into focus. "So do either of you know anything about this place I'm being summoned to?" she asked.

As both Discord's and Celestia's attention turned to the floating globe over the table, the monacle and top had disappeared and Discord raced over to it gasping.

"Oh, my," he said ecstatically. "I haven't seen this place since a very dear friend of mine threw a meteor at it. That was sixty five million years ago, now! My goodness time flies! He said something about the dinosaurs being rude to him or something, but they're dinosaurs, they don't know-"

"Discord, do you know what this place is?" Starlight Glimmer asked impatiently. Twilight took a step towards him but was stopped by the soft voice of her mentor.

"You don't know where this is, Twilight?" Celestia asked. Twilight turned back to her and shook her head in response. Celestia looked back up at the globe and smiled.

"Twilight," she continued. "This is Planet Earth."

A sudden gasp from Pinkie Pie gave every pony in the room a rude shock.

"Earth?" she queried. "Applejack and I are _Earth_ ponies… are earth ponies actually _aliens_ from this planet?"

"No, Pinkie Pie," Celestia laughed. "The name Earth Pony refers to your ability to mold the land around you, to utilize the resources of the ground, or 'earth' if you will. This is the _Planet_ Earth. It is very similar to our own world in many ways, yet at the same time, very different." She turned back to Twilight before continuing. "It's a very… special part of the universe, Twilight, with a diverse array of life forms, some you are familiar with already, and others like you have never seen before."

"Have you been there, Your Highness?" asked Starlight.

Princess Celestia nodded before responding. "I visited that world over a thousand years ago with my sister, Princess Luna, after we defeated Discord the first time…" she paused and looked up at Discord, who was to distracted with analyzing the floating planet Earth, before continuing. "And a little more recently, there was a battle on that world which resulted in the destruction of a most evil tyrant that I heard about from a very good friend that I made while I was there."

This time Discord decided to weigh in. "You wouldn't happen to be referring to the death of that old fool, Frieza, would you?"

Celestia nodded to Discord before continuing her explanation. "And ever since I heard of that battle and the result of it, I've been sending unicorns with specific gifts to that planet, with the intent of-"

"Wait," Twilight suddenly interrupted. "You've been sending _ponies_ to other planets?"

"No, just Earth," Celestia replied with a calm smile. Twilight on the other hand was on the brink of exploding with excitement.

"Does that mean that you can send me there, too?" she asked.

Discord suddenly appeared in Twilight's field of vision. "She sure can, Twi," he proclaimed, much to Celestia's apparent annoyance.

Twilight turned back to her friends ecstatically, bouncing up and down on her hooves. "Did you hear that everypony?" she said. "I'm going to outer space!"

"Woohoo! We're all going to outer space!" Pinkie cheered, prompting a cheer from the other ponies as well. Discord interrupted that cheer by clearing his throat, grabbing the attention of the excited ponies.

"Sorry to ruin your festivities," he started. "But the cutie mark map specifically only summoned one 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' to head to the Planet Earth in search of a Friendship problem to solve."

The excitement died down suddenly and turned to worry. Twilight herself didn't know how long she could be away for. If anything she's read about what was beyond Equus' atmosphere was true, then she could be away from her friends for a very long time. Then, Spike spoke up.

"It's ok, everypony," he proclaimed. "Twilight won't be all on her own. I'll go with her!"

This took everyone by surprise, even Discord.

"Spike," said Twilight. "The cutie mark-"

"How long have I been your assistant for now, Twi?" Spike asked. "Ever since you hatched me in that entrance exam. We've been together and helping each other for all of my life at least. If you're going to another world on a mission that could take you a really long time, then I should be at your side when you do it."

Twilight couldn't argue with that. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and she pulled the young dragon into a tight hug.

"Thank you Spike," she said softly. "I'll be more than glad to have you with me."

Rarity suddenly trotted forward with her face in an exaggerated frown and her bottom lip quivering. "Twilight, Spike! Surely you do not intend to leave moi without my Spikey-Wikey?"

Spike then turned around to Rarity and replied. "I'm sorry Rarity, but I have to go. Twilight's been there for me all my life. It wouldn't be right for her to be launched to this strange new world all on her own. But I promise, the moment we've solve the friendship problem, we'll come back. I'll come back for you, Rarity." Spike then planted a kiss on Rarity's cheek, much to Rarity's surprise, before returning to Twilight's side. They all turned to Discord and Celestia, who were both smiling at the sight.

"If you could all follow us outside, we can begin sending Twilight and Spike to the Planet Earth," Celestia said as she began trotting towards the doors, with Discord at her side.

The ponies all followed the Princess of the Sun and her Chaotic date outside of the castle to an open area of grass.

"Well, Discord, since you started all this," Celestia said. "I'll let you do the honors."

"With pleasure, _Princess,_ " Discord replied cheekily before clicking his eagle talon. Instantly, a giant purple coloured egg appeard, with gold coloured rings dividing it into thirds, and hovered above the ground.

Rainbow Dash was the first to comment on it. "I was expecting a spaceship to be at least 20% cooler than this."

"Oh," Celestia challenged. "What if I told you that this ship is sentient and could detect obstacles and threats and avoid them all on its own, so Twilight doesn't need to navigate space herself."

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow before responding. "… 10% cooler?"

"What if I told you that with a simple voiced command, Twilight can have access to any and all information that she needs once she's inside, including books, documentaries, sights of great events, anything," Celestia replied.

Rainbow Dash's jaw hung open for a brief moment. She shut it again before asking, "… 5%..."

Princess Celestia leaned in closer to Rainbow Dash and whispered, "Anything. Even if it had been destroyed in the past."

Rainbow Dash was silent for a few seconds. When she finally spoke, she was excited about it. "Ok, you've convinced me. This is so awesome! I can't believe you get to go to space, Twi!"

"What if Twilight and Spike are traveling through space and then a big scary monster appears?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

Twilight turned to her friend with a reassuring smile and answered. "Then the ship will take measures ahead of time to avoid it while still heading to Earth."

"Honestly though," Discord interjected. "If there are scary monsters appearing in Twilight's travels, they'll already be on Earth. I mean did you see the state of that-"

"I'm sure that's why Twilight is being summoned there, Discord," Celestia interrupted. She turned back to Twilight before continuing. "I put a few books that will be useful for this particular adventure of yours. Good luck, my dearest student. Your friends and I all look forward to seeing you again when this is all done."

"That reminds me," said Twilight as she suddenly became aware that she had not moved her wings the entire time that they were looking at the floating Earth. "Do you know how long it will take me to get there?"

"Approximately six calendar weeks," Celestia replied. Twilight's eyes shrunk down to pinpricks and her mouth hung open. Her wings that she had been stretching for the past few seconds as she asked her question suddenly flopped to the ground. The other ponies were in a similar state of shock. Discord meanwhile was laughing heartily at the sight, and Celestia herself suppressed a giggle.

"Don't worry, Twilight," Celestia said. "Once you read what I have in there for you, it will be a much quicker trip back home."

Twilight relaxed a bit when she heard this, and a bit more when she felt Spike's little claw on her side. She folded her wings back into her sides and turned back to the ship. As she stared at it intently, a question formed in her mind.

"How do I get on the ship?" she asked.

Discord, who was still wiping the tears of laughter off his face, replied. "Use your magic, Twilight."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow and turned back to the ship. _Well, here goes…_ She focused on trying to engulf the ship with her magic. However, the second her horn began glowing, a spot on the bottom of the ship on the side facing Twilight began to shine brightly. The light from this shining spot extended all the way down to the ground in front of her. When the light faded, it revealed a flight of stairs leading up to a very ordinary looking house door. The other ponies 'oohed' and 'aahhed' at the sight of it.

Twilight looked back to her friends, whom were all waving her goodbye, and waved them back one last time, before taking a nervous gulp and hesitantly trotting up the stairs to the ship. She could feel Spike next to her, and she could tell already that he was just as nervous. As they reached the door, Twilight used her magic to turn the round handle and it opened outwards. Twilight and Spike stepped inside and gazed upon its interior as the ship's door closed behind them.

The walls were lined with bookshelves, which were all covered in books. Twilight's nervousness suddenly disappeared and a wide grin began to form on her face. Her eyes grew to the size of saucers and sparkled at the sight of all these books.

"Isn't it beautiful, Spike?" She said, slowly taking in the sight.

"I wonder which one of these books has instructions about how to get this ship to take us to Earth," said Spike in response.

Suddenly, the huge room started to shake, and Twilight felt her weight being sucked down to the floor.

"I think you just did it, Spike," Twilight managed to say through all of the shaking, which slowly died down to nothing. Twilight suddenly noticed that the ship had no windows. She wished that she could see her friends as they took off. Then she remembered something that Princess Celestia said to Rainbow Dash.

"Voice command," she whispered to herself before trotting to the middle of the room and calling out. "Show me my friends back home!"

The floor began to change and seemingly clear away to look like a window to the ground bellow. Twilight sighed as she saw her friends back on the ground, getting smaller and smaller as the ship got further and further away. She felt her young dragon assistant Spike join her side as a tear dropped from her face onto the floor.

"Bye girls," she muttered. "I promise I'll come home when I'm done."

 **Zackary: G'day, its me, Zackary. I've finally made it to Red Centre Town, but it doesn't look like I'm the only one looking for those Dragon Balls.**

 **Marron: Hey! Look out!**

 **Didgeri: Oi! Get back here, lady, and hand over that Dragon Ball!**

 **Zackary: Holy Crap! I'd better go see what that's all about! Next time on Dragonball Harmony: Marron and the Two-Star Dragon Ball!**


	8. Marron and the Two-Star Dragon Ball

**A/N: For this chapter, just imagine an Australian Piccolo dressed like a bike gang member and wearing a cowboy hat. Have that picture in your mind? Now, begin...**

The train pulled in to a very dusty looking platform and slowed right down to a stop. Zackary looked out the train window and could faintly hear the automated announcements stating, "The train on platform 2 terminates here. Please do not board this train." Zackary rubbed his eyes as he stood up from his seat and made his way down the train carriage. He was one of only three people on this particular carriage left by the time they arrived.

As the doors opened, Zackary calmly stepped onto the platform to find it almost empty, save for the few passengers who had alighted the train with him. A white fence was all that separated the train station from the town that Zackary was there for. A rusted sign hung limply off the fence. On it, Zackary could just make out the words 'Welcome to Red Centre Town'. Zackary looked past the fence to the town beyond. They were mainly houses, with a few larger building with various shaped signs hanging off doors and windowsills. A much larger building sat on a corner of two roads and appeared to have a lot more people walking in and out of there. _That's where most of the townspeople are, it looks like,_ he thought to himself. _Someone there must know something._

As Zackary stepped off the platform onto the dirt road in the town, the one thing that he noticed was that everything was red, from the ground to the roof of the building he was heading towards. Everything was covered in red dust. The further into town he traveled, the more he noticed other people's interactions with one another. They all had rough voices and lots of curse words filled Zackary's ears as he caught snippets of conversations. Zackary eventually reached the door of the large building, where there was a small pole hanging off the top of the doorway. Off that pole was a sign that had a picture of an orange coloured dog wearing a bushman's hat and carrying a sniper rifle in its right paw. Words underneat this image read, 'The Snipin' Dingo'.

"Must be an inn or something," Zackary said to himself. "The barkeep must've heard something about the dragon ball."

Zackary took a deep breath before pushing the door open and stepping inside. Inside this inn was a lot noisier that out as there appeared to be a lot more people. There was a lot of laughter and conversation, all involving curse words. Zackary waded though the crowd towards the bar at the other end of the room, where there was a thin looking man wearing a brown vest over a red business shirt and a bushman's hat, polishing a glass mug.

As soon as Zackary reached the bartender looked up at him with a wide grin on his face. "G'day, mate," he said cheerfully. "What can I get ya?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with something," Zackary replied.

The bartender kept smiling as he replied. "I can get you a drink, a room, a meal or all three. If you're looking for the sights, go to the Town Hall and find a directory."

Zackary leaned over the bar towards the bartender as he continued. "Actually, I was wondering if you were aware of anyone collecting any 'mystical' artifacts."

The bartender's smile dropped a little bit and he squinted suspiciously. "What do you mean, 'mystical'?" he asked.

Zackary gulped quietly before continuing. "Have you heard the words 'dragon ball' or 'wishing orb' being thrown around here?"

The bartender's smile dropped entirely and he rolled his eyes before replying. "Oh, fer God's sake, mate! You're not looking for those bloody dragon balls too, are you?"

This statement took Zackary aback. "You mean I'm not the only one?" he asked.

The bartender shook his head before continuing. "Just yesterday, some blonde sheila wearing orange and blue comes in and asks those same questions you did. A little bit later, some green coloured freak comes in with this gang of bikies and asks the same thing."

Zackary's heart began beating at his ribcage painfully as he listened to the barkeeper's story. If there were people before him who were also looking for the dragon balls, he might be too late.

"What did you tell them?" Zackary struggled to ask.

"Same thing I'm about to tell you, mate," the bartender responded bluntly. "There's a martial arts master who has himself set up in the west side of town. Master Po Junior, I thing his name is. He's the only one here who might have something like that in these parts. Now, are you going to by a drink, or what?"

"Maybe later," Zackary replied as he pulled fifteen Zeni out of his pocket and slapped in on the counter before racing out of the inn.

As soon as Zackary stepped onto the sidewalk, he discovered another dilemma: he had no idea which way West was. He whipped out his iphone and tried to find a compass app, but to no avail. He then tried to find one in the app store, only to find that he had no signal. Zackary looked around and tried to work out which way he was facing, which also didn't help him.

 _Crap,_ he thought to himself. He looked around once more to see that a few more people were starting to show up on the street. If he wanted to find this Master Po, he was going to have to do it the old fashioned way. Being the only martial arts school in town, the locals are bound to know where it is. He first approached a rather plump woman carrying shopping bags.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said. "You wouldn't happen to know where I would find the residence of Po Junior, would you?"

"Oh, that old Panda?" the woman replied, pointing down the road behind her. "Yeah. Just head right down to the end of this road, then take a left. It's on the other side of that street. Big Asian temple looking thing, you can't miss it."

"Thank you!" Zackary replied before racing down the road where the lady had pointed.

He reached the end of the road after a few minutes and made a sharp left hand turn. Sure enough, a large building with a concave roof stood out among the normal country houses that surrounded it. Zackary raced across the road and leaped over the fence that surrounded it.

The temple was quite large, and large jade pillars held the roof up at the front of it. Zackary quickly approached the great wooden double doors and slammed his fist into it three times before waiting. After about a minute, Zackary was very surprised to find that there was no answer. Zackary tried knocking again, only for both doors to fall off the hinges and fall inside the temple. They hit the floor with a loud crack, and revealed what was inside.

The place looked a mess, with pieces of broken glass, wood splinters and shards of marble and jade littering the floor. A desk at the very back of the temple had been overturned and the pillars holding up the ceiling had slices and cracks all through them. In the center of the great room lay what appeared to be a panda with clothes. A deep charred looking gash ran right from his right shoulder down to his left hip and he lay in a pool of his own blood.

Saddened by the sight, Zackary slowly approached the dead figure, which he deduced must have been Po Junior. He brought his right fist to his left palm and bowed in respect before the dead master.

"I hope you don't mind, master," he uttered. "But I have to save the world, now."

He knelt down and began searching through the panda's clothing, from his button up kung fu shirt to the pockets of his pants. However, there was no sign of the dragon ball he was looking for. _Am I too late?_ He thought to himself.

With a glimmer of hope, he began searching the rest of the temple. He looked under the desk that was overturned and around the debris. He ran down corridors in the sides of the temple and searched each of the rooms he saw, but to no avail. Frustrated, he stormed outside and plunked himself down on the steps of the great temple. That's when he saw it…

….

"Oi! Get back here, bitch!"

The curse words of the biker crew filled Marron's ears as she ran with her prize: the two star dragon ball. She continually tried to fly away, but ki blasts kept on cutting her off. Her only option was to run at this point. She ran right down the street, passed the temple of the late Master Po Junior, before trying once again to take to the skies. This time, however, a ki ball exploded right in the small of her back, causing her to cry out in agony. She collapsed on the ground and heard the vicious roar of Harley Davidsons surround her.

A foot suddenly kicked her onto her back before placing itself onto her chest. She stared up at the owner of the foot to see the green coloured man she had been running from, dressed in dark jeans and a leather vest with a Stetson hat on his head.

"You're a bloody fast runner, little girl," he said in a harsh, bogany voice. "But now that you're not going anywhere, how about you hand us that dragon ball of yours, darling."

Marron looked up at the namekian and gritted her teeth. "So you can waste the wish on your own selfish desire? I don't think so, Digeri!" was her reply.

A wide, deranged grin started to form on Digeri's lips. "You know what," he said. "I was kinda hoping you'd say something like that." This last comment prompted a series of sniggers and affirmative grunts from the other bikers. She watched as Digeri closed one fist and a blade of yellow light shaped like a boomerang manifested in his grip. He pointed it down at Marron before continuing. "I'm gonna carve it from your dead bimbo hands instead."

As the deranged Namekian raised his ki made weapon over his head, Marron waited there for the inevitable.

 _I'm sorry, dad,_ she thought in her mind. _I guess I was never as good as you or Goku at stuff like this._ As she was about to close her eyes, the unthinkable happened.

A stranger had somehow made it into the circle of motorcycles and slammed his elbow into the side of Digeri's face. He was a young man, about Marron's age, and was wearing a leather jacket and blue jeans.

The ki boomerang disappeared as Digeri stumbled into one of his henchmen. "What the bloody hell was that?" he demanded, looking towards his assailant.

…

Zackary moved himself in front of the girl in the orange gi and stood defiantly in between her and this 'Digeri'.

"Back off, mate," Zackary replied sternly. "I won't let you abuse this woman any more!" He put up his Wing Chun guard and glared at the green man.

Digeri gritted his teeth in annoyance, prompting Zackary to smirk slightly.

"We this is just not on!" one of the other bikies called out. "Don't worry, boss. We'll sort him out…"

"No, back off!" Digeri demanded, causing the rest of the crew to take a few steps back. "This kid wants to be a bloody hero? He's mine!"

Digeri suddenly rushed forward and threw a round punch right at Zackary's left temple.

 _Textbook,_ Zackary thought to himself as he simply raised his arm up to deflect it while throwing a punch of his own forward into Digeri's nose, sending him reeling back in shock. The force of Digeri's punch was much stronger than Zackary was used to, but he managed to hold his stance steady as he defended it.

A droplet of purple dripped out of his nose as the green coloured thug turned back to Zackary. "You'll pay for that you little shit!" He shouted before throwing a barrage of punches right at Zackary.

Zackary defended all of the punches expertly, making a bit of ground as he did. This Digeri guy was really strong, he had to admit, and much faster than any of his sparing partners. Still, he held on to the centerline until an opening revealed itself to him: an overextended punch on Digeri's part that left his face wide open. After piercing through with a tan sao, a small pivot was all that was needed to turn that tan sao into a punch and connect the strike with Digeri's cheek. He then squared his stance up again as he cut down in an arc, forcing Digeri's arm down and delivering another punch two his face, followed by a palm strike into his floating rib.

Digeri stumbled back, and appeared perplexed and angry. "I'll kill you!" he screamed before lifting his leg up and turning into a roundhouse kick. Zackary deflected the kick with both his arms while simultaneously delivering a heel kick into Digeri's midsection. The force of the kick was enough to knock Digeri off his supporting leg and on his back. Zackary dropped his guard slightly as his opponent just lay there, breathing heavily.

"Boss! Are you sure you don't want us to kill him?" the bikies all began to ask worriedly. A single raised hand by Digeri was enough to silence them. Zackary could see though, that he was seething.

He took a few steps towards Digeri. "I think it's time you called it quits, now, mate," he said bluntly, dropping his hands down to his sides. Suddenly, Digeri threw one of his arms forward and a ball of light erupted from his hand and headed straight for Zackary's chest. Zackary didn't bring his arms back up in time and the ball exploded against him, shooting pain from his chest all across his torso. The explosion also knocked him backward and he landed on his back painfully. Zackary lay there and writhed in agony. Nothing he had ever experienced was this painful.

Above his own moans, he could hear the green bikie boss cackling loudly.

"I can't believe that bloody worked," he said, turning his attention back on Zackary. "And here I was thinking that you were one of those bloody Z-fighters or something. See, lads, I told you I had this!"

The other bikies erupted in cheers and celebrations. "Yeah! Way to go, boss! That'll teach this little shitlin'."

Zackary gritted his teeth and tried to stand back up, but the green man's foot suddenly slammed into his chest, irritating his burns and causing him to cry out in pain.

"So you wanted to be a hero, did ya?" Digeri taunted as he created that light boomerang in his hand again. "Look here, kid. You're all done." He raised his weapon over his head to finish Zackary off, but something caught his attention in front of him. His expression changed from that of amusement, to sheer terror.

"Oh come o…" he managed to say as a disk of light cut straight through his neck, separating his head from his body and pushing them both backwards. Zackary sat up as the headless corpse fell back off him and lay there on the road, motionless.

Zackary looked around to see that all the other bikies staring in shock at the blonde girl in the blue undershirt and orange gi, who was now on her feet and had one arm extended in front of her. The bikies looked on for one more second before jumping right back onto their bikes and riding off down the road as quickly as they could, one of them even stopping to pick up Digeri's remains.

Zackary fell back on his back and tried peeling his shirt off his burns.

"Don't touch it," he heard a female voice say next to him. He looked up and saw the blonde girl kneeling next to him with her hand in a brown pouch. She pulled her hand out of the pouch, holding a small green coloured bean between her index finger and thumb. "Put this in your mouth, chew and swallow."

Lacking the energy to ask questions, Zackary complied, eating the small been out from the girl's hand. As instructed, he chewed and swallowed the bean, and immediately began to feel his energy lift. He clutched at his chest and found that the burns were gone as well. In fact, he was now feeling better than he had felt in a really long time.

"What was that?" he asked the girl, who was still kneeling next to him on the road.

"That was a senzu bean," she replied. "Fighting Digeri was reckless of you, sir, but I'm glad you stepped in when you did. Thank you."

She stood up and offered Zackary a hand. Zackary took it and made it back onto his feet.

"Thank you for that… save as well," Zackary replied, before shaking her hand. "My name's Zackary, by the way. My friends just call me Zack, though."

"Marron. Nice to meet you, Zack," the girl responded as she looked down at his chest with a smirk on her face. "I think we need to get you a new shirt."

Zackary looked down to see that Marron was right. The damage done by that light ball was still evident on his clothing. He put a hand behind his head and giggled sheepishly. "Uh… yeah."

After a short search, they found a thrift shop near the town hall where they managed to find Zackary a new white t-shirt. After changing, Zackary thought it was time to ask Marron about a few things.

"So why were those bikies attacking you for," he asked.

Marron looked down and to the side as she responded. "It's a long and complicated story. I'm not sure I can explain it to you so you could understand."

"Try me," Zackary pushed with a smiled on his face. Marron sighed before replying.

"That biker gang had found Master Po before I could, and had stolen an item that is of great importance to saving this world."

"You mean the dragon balls?" Zackary cut in, catching Marron by surprise.

"How do you know about the dragon balls?" Marron asked.

Zackary reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the one star ball, causing Marron's eyes to widen.

"My master, Master Chu, had this one," he explained. "He told me that the dragon balls are the only thing that can undo whatever's going on to the world right now."

"You want to use them to save the earth, too?" Marron asked, her pupils dilating as she listened.

Zackary nodded. "I also want to wish back everyone who died as a result of all this," he continued.

"I'm looking for them for the same reason!" Marron replied excitedly. She reached under her gi and pulled out another dragon ball, much like Zackary's, only with two stars instead of one. The two-star ball also had a large crack in it.

"I wonder why they're cracked," Zackary muttered.

Marron shrugged in response before handing her ball to Zackary. "Come on, Zack. We're running out of time."

Much to Zackary's shock, Marron levitated off the ground and began rising to the sky higher and higher. Zackary felt his jaw hit the ground right there and then.

Marron stopped some distance above the ground and turned back to Zackary. "You coming or what?" she called down to him. Zackary said nothing as his jaw hung open at the sight of a _human being_ levitating off the ground all on her own.

"Wait…" Marron called again. "Do you _not_ know how to fly?"

"Sh-should I?" Zackary stammered.

"Oh, geeze," Marron responded as she returned to the ground next to Zackary.

"This is going to slow us down," Marron continued, putting a finger on her chin in thought. Zackary, meanwhile, was still in shock at the sight of a person flying without any sort of assistance from anything whatsoever.

"If you're going to help me find those dragon balls, then we need to fix this," Marron replied, before scooping Zackary up under his arms and returning to the sky.

Zackary slowly looked down as they rose higher and higher out of town. As his eyes saw how far up they were, his heart started beating faster and faster, and his pupils dilated. He felt Marron's arms suddenly wrap around his chest as they flew.

"Don't worry, Zack," she reassured. "I've got you, but I need to teach you how to do this on your own."

"You can teach me how to fly?" Zackary asked, surprised.

"Sure," Marron confirmed. "We just need to find a good place to start your training."

 **Zackary: G'day, its me, Zackary! I'm freaking out with how high off the ground I am now, guys!**

 **Marron: It's alright, Zack, I've got you, remember? You have to know how to fly if you're going to help me find those dragon balls.**

 **Twilight Sparkle: Spike, we're doing some special training to deal with the elevated gravity on Earth.**

 **Spike: Oh, do we have to?**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: Sensei Marron: Special Training Begins!**

 **Spike: Ugh! Twilight! I... Can't... Move!**


	9. Sensei Marron: Special Training Begins

**It's alive! Sorry I haven't been updating much, I've been distracted by other things to much. Anyways, back to the story, where Zackary is going to learn how to do stuff...**

"…17…18…19…" Twilight struggled to get her final wing-up, gritting her teeth the whole way up. "…20!" She dropped to the floor with sweat pouring out from under her fur. However, this was just the warm up.

She heard Spike stirring in his makeshift bed that she had created from the books that lined the many bookshelves inside the ship. She couldn't stop to greet him, though, as preparing for Earth was her top priority right now. She turned back to a small stack of books that she had been reading that inspired her little workout. The first was titled 'Earth vs Equus: A Space Traveller's Guide by Golden Venture'. The two books underneath them were the ones that Princess Celestia had left in the ship for her and were written by Starswirl the Bearded himself. The one she had most recently finished reading was a detailed fighting system for ponies of all kinds, designed by the ancient wizard himself. The tome she had yet to pick up was titled, 'Portals Back Home And How To Use Them'.

Using her magic to sift through the stack, she pulled out the second of the three and opened it straight to the index. The pages in the index were filled with diagrams of ponies in different fighting stances, some on their hind legs, and others on all fours. The stance Twilight though that she would try was one for a Pegasus on its hind legs bent low, with one front leg pulled back to the side and the other outstretched in front, with the wings flared back as a counterbalance.

"*pant* Shouldn't be… *pant* to hard…" Twilight muttered as she struggled onto her hind legs, only to fall flat on her belly painfully.

Twilight grunted as she pushed herself back on her hooves. The strain on her legs was almost unbearable, but she persevered until she was standing again.

"I think that's enough for one day…" she panted, closing Starswirl's martial arts book.

"Uh… Twilight?" She suddenly heard her young dragon assistant Spike call out to her.

Twilight turned around slowly to see Spike struggling to push a blanket off.

"Why… is… this… blanket… so… heavy…?" the young dragon complained.

It was this moment that Twilight realised that she had forgotten to normalise the gravitational pressure inside the ship. She lit up her horn and immediately felt her body becoming much lighter. She sighed in relief before seeing to Spike.

"Sorry Spike," she said. "I was training all of last night. Are you ok?"

"I am now that… Wait…" said Spike, who appeared to just suddenly realise what Twilight had just said. " _You_ were _training_ all of last night?"

"I know it's hard to believe, Spike, but yes," Twilight replied. "I went and did a Rainbow Dash all night."

"And that had something to do with why my blanket was so heavy this morning?" Spike asked in amazement.

Twilight nodded with a grin before replying. "It looks like Princess Celestia's ship can do more than just give me information. I asked it if it could increase the gravitational pressure inside the ship, and it did."

"Ok," said Spike, scratching his head in confusion. "But why is this necessary, Twilight?"

Twilight used her magic to lift up the 'Earth vs Equus' book as she replied. "I learned that Earth's gravitational pull is a little bit stronger than our own world. About 50% stronger to be exact. In his book here, Golden Venture suggests that before we get to Earth, we should be able to withstand a gravitational pressure that is 10 times that of Earth's, which is roughly equivalent to 15 times Equus' gravity!"

"Fifteen times gravity?" Spike exclaimed with iris's shrinking down to pinpricks. "That's completely insane, Twilight! We'll both be pooping out our internal organs before we make it passed two!"

"Actually, Spike," Twilight interjected with a smug smirk on her face. "I made it to three last night."

Twilight's smugness grew as Spike stared at her, dumfounded. He reached back to his bead slowly and pulled out a thin black booklet.

"You mean to tell me that last night my head was putting three times its normally weight on top of…" Spike looked down at the booklet before continuing. "…The Saiyan Handbook?"

Twilight took the booklet off Spike and opened it, flicking through a few of its pages.

"Full moon, losing the tail, stronger everytime they get beaten to near death," She read out loud before shrugging and giving the booklet back to Spike. "Hope we don't run into any of those. And yes, Spike, that's exactly what happened last night."

Spike's eyelid twitched a few times, prompting a giggle from Twilight.

"It'll be fine, Spike," she continued. "Actually, now that you're up, you can come train with me. We're both going to be on Earth after all."

"Twilight I'm not so… Wait, what are you doing? Stop!" Spike's objection came to late as Twilight's horn lit up and he was dragged to the floor by the increased gravity of the ship.

Twilight stood over him with a manic grin on her face. "Stand up, Spike," she instructed. "This is only twice gravity."

"Twilight, I haven't had breakfast yet!" the young dragon complained.

"A good time to train is on an empty stomach, Spike," Twilight replied. "Now, get up! We have to get you fighting as well!"

"What! I have to learn how to fight in this?" Spike complained further as he struggled to stand up.

"You're a dragon, Spike," Twilight replied. "I'm sure it will be no problem once you're standing."

After a couple of minutes of struggling, Spike was on his feet and panting heavily.

"I had a look at Starswirl's book already, Twilight," he managed to say through his panting. "It's all for ponies. I'm not a pony, so how…"

"Oh, I have a better idea for you, Spike," Twilight interrupted suddenly.

Twilight struggled to keep her composure as she watched Spike gulp. "What do you mean, Twilight?" he asked.

"Oh, just a little game of 'dodge'," Twilight replied.

"Dodge?" Spike asked.

That was Twilight's queue. She suddenly whirled around and thrust her hind hooves directly at Spike.

"Dodge!" She cried out as she sent the poor dragon flying across the room into one of the bookshelves.

Spike fell down and collapsed on the floor, and half of the books on the shelf he crashed into followed him down and piled on top of him. A muffled 'ow' let Twilight know that he was all right.

Twilight sighed and closed her eyes. _This is going to be a long six weeks,_ she thought to herself as she went to pick the books off Spike.

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Zackary was slowly becoming more comfortable with the idea of being airborne, as Marron carried him high into the mountains. It was a welcome change to dusty Red Centre town, as he was actually seeing greenery now. He put a hand on his jacket and felt the two dragon balls that he had left in the inside pocket, reassuring himself that he hadn't lost them in the flight.

"So, you don't know how to fly, but you managed to hold your own against Digeri," Marron began to ask. "How?"

"My master taught me how to fight opponents stronger than I am," Zackary replied. "Still, that 'Digeri' guy was a lot stronger than I'm used to."

"Ok, but I could sense your energy and his, Zack," Marron continued. "At his energy levels and strength, he should have been able to punch right through your blocks."

"That's the thing, Marron," Zackary replied. "I don't actually 'block' attacks."

"Huh?" Zackary could tell that he had confused Marron with his answer. He smiled as he explained.

"In Wing Chun, we don't directly block attacks. We use angling and circular movements to redirect or deflect an attackers force, while simultaneously attacking," he said.

"You're going to have to show me that later, Zack," Marron replied. "But for now, I've found us a good place for your new training."

Zackary looked ahead to see a small flat clearing on a cliff edge that they were heading towards. There was only a single tree growing there, but there were lots of rocks. Marron approached the clearing quickly and set them both down right on the edge of the cliff. They both walked away from the cliff edge and towards the grassy clearing.

"Yes, this is a good spot to start," Marron said before turning to Zackary. "You ready, Zack?"

Zackary nodded with a smile. Marron smiled back and sat on her legs on the ground, and motioned for Zackary to do the same. Zackary complied and waited for his first lesson to begin.

"So Zack," Marron asked. "Have you ever heard of Ki?"

Zackary looked up in thought and placed a hand on his chin. "Hm, now I don't think I've heard that term before. Master Chu told me about Chi, though. Is that the same?" Zackary asked.

"It depends," Marron replied before explaining. "Ki is the energy that flow through all living things. If you want to be able to fly, then you have to be able to control it and use it at will. That starts here." Marron cupped both hands together before continuing. "Watch me first, ok?"

Zackary looked tentatively on as Marron fell silent in concentration. After a few seconds, a small ball of light materialised in Marron's hands. Zackary's mouth fell open in amazement and wonder for a brief moment, before he remembered Digeri's blast attack that left nasty burns on his chest. He subconsciously put one hand on his chest, prompting a small giggle from Marron.

"I'm not going to throw this at you, Zack," Marron reassured. "This here is my ki. I can move it out or into my body or around my body. This is how you're going to fly, but you need to be able to first do what I'm doing now." The light ball disappeared, leaving Zackary dumbstruck.

"How do I do that?" he asked.

"First, concentrate on your solar plexus," Marron replied. "Try to find a warmth there, like a small flame."

This was easy enough for Zackary, for he had already felt it when he had made his miraculous recovery in hospital. He mentally felt around his chest and found it in seconds, as if there was a small fire burning right in that spot. He nodded to Marron to indicate that he was ready for the next step.

"Now, I don't know how long this will take you to do, I know I didn't get it straight away," Marron explained. "You now need to pull that out of you into your hands, just like I was doing."

Zackary mimicked Marron's prior hand positioning and began staring intently into them, trying to will it out of his chest and into his cupped hands. His brow furrowed and a vein began to pop out of his forehead as he concentrated.

Nothing happened.

"Don't let go of that warmth in your solar plexus, Zack," Marron said. "And relax your body. Your energy can't flow if you're hard as a rock."

Zackary took a deap breath and relaxed everything. He then reached back to his solar plexus to find that fire again. He held onto it and tried to move it through to his hands. Try as he might, it wouldn't budge, either because he had let go of it accidentally or because in his concentration he had unknowingly tensed up again. After a few minutes of trying, he dropped his hands in exasperation and panted.

"It's no use," he said in exhaustion. "I can't relax and concentrate at the same time enough to move my energy."

"It took me a while to get it as well, Zack," Marron said. "Don't worry, you'll get it eventually."

Marron stood up and began stretching her shoulders across her chest. Zackary stood up with her.

"I think we aughta give that a break, now," Marron said. "How about we get a bit of sparring done?"

Zackary stiffened up a little at the thought of that.

"I wonder how I'd go against you, seeing how you took care of that Digeri guy," Zackary said.

"Don't worry, we're just going hand to hand," Marron replied. "No ki blasts until you've mastered them too. Deal?"

"Deal," Zackary said with a smile as he relaxed a bit. He observed as Marron dropped into a low wide stance, with one hand down at her waist in a fist and the other bent in front of her face, with the index and middle fingers poking out of the hand in a crooked position. Zackary measured out his stance and guard, and tried to relax as much as possible.

As soon as he released his first breath, Marron sprung forward suddenly with a straight punch right at Zackary's face. It made contact with the outside of Zackary's front hand, which he raised up, deflecting the incredible power of Marron's strike, and simultaneously throwing a punch out of his own, right into Marron's cheek. This completely halted Marron's momentum and sent her stumbling back a few paces. Zackary took this opportunity to take the offensive. He charged forward, throwing chain punches directly in Marron's center, changing targets from her face to her chest. To Zackary's surprise, she was defending all of his strikes, even as she retreated. She suddenly dropped down under one of his punches and threw a punch at his midsection, which Zackary met in tor sao, redirecting the strike. Marron then followed up with an attempted uppercut, which Zackary deflected as he punched. He was amazed to see Marron move her head to the side of his counter punch. Zackary raised his deflecting arm into a side slash at Marron's head, which Marron blocked before following up with a punch of her own. Because of his hand position, Zackary had no choice but to redirect the punch with a bong sao, causing him to pivot on the spot. He quickly used his other hand to latch down on Marron's striking arm to control it, leaving his bong sao arm free to deliver a second side slash. Marron was apparently ready for it, however, as she simply lowered her body under the slash and allowed her momentum to continue forward. Zackary suddenly felt her knee in his rib cage, causing him to cough out some saliva. This was followed up by a straight kick to the gut, which sent him skidding backwards in his stance into a tree. Zackary collapsed on one knee after this, and panted hard, clutching his side where he was kneed.

Next thing he knew, Marron was once again at his side with one of her senzu beans ready for him.

"I see now why you like using that 'Wing Chun' style," she said with a smile. "It's little wonder that you were able to hold your own against Digeri, even without the ki control."

Zackary smiled as he chewed up the senzu bean that Marron gave to him. He swallowed before replying. "If only I could hold my own against you now. You're amazing, Marron!"

"Hey, at your current energy level, lasting as long as you did against me is quite an achievement in itself," said Marron, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I can only imagine what you'll be capable of when you get to my level."

Zackary sat back against the tree he was kicked into before turning to his new teacher.

"Hey Marron," he asked. "Who taught you all this stuff? Like the fighting and the ki blasts and all that?"

Marron gazed off the cliff as she replied. "My dad taught me the Turtle Style, and a family friend, Choutzu, taught me how to fly. I thought I would make my mom and dad proud if I could gather the dragon balls and save the world. It's proving to be a lot tougher than I thought."

"Well, you won't have to do it alone, right?" said Zackary. "I mean, that's why I'm learning to use ki, right?"

Marron looked back at Zackary and smiled. "Yeah, I guess it does pay to have company." She looked back out to the cliff before continuing. "How about I fly off somewhere and find something for us to eat before we keep training."

Zackary lit up when he heard this. He suddenly found himself starving. He reached into his jacket pocket and found it still full of cash.

"You need money?" he asked her.

Marron shook her head as she replied. "I think we have everything we need right here," she said, pointing out to the greenery bellow the cliff. "Hang tight Zack, I'll be right back." She took off and flew down the cliff face as Zackary looked on. Zackary had never seen any human being do the things that Marron was doing at all, let alone so effortlessly. And she was teaching him to do the same thing. Suddenly, a loud rumble from his insides interrupted his train of thought, cause a great deal of discomfort.

 _I hope you come back soon, Marron,_ he thought to himself.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. Looks like I'm gonna be learning some new skills for my mission.**

 **Pearl: Amethyst! I can't believe you just tossed that Dragon ball away!**

 **Bulma: Bra! Where do you think you're going?**

 **Uub: Master Goku, let me find the Dragon balls! I'm ready for this!**

 **Twilight: We're not done yet, Spike. We've still got another five weeks to go!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: A Week Later; Master Your Ki, Zackary!**


	10. A Week Later: Master Your Ki, Zackary!

**OMG Back on Track! It's alive again! And I have three days off work in a row, so I can dedicate my time to this story now! Let's see how our main characters are doing...**

"What do you mean, you 'threw it away'?" the tall skinny pearl demanded to the short plump amethyst.

"It was cracked, so I threw it away," the amethyst replied simply.

"Do you have any idea how valuable that was!" the pearl yelled.

"Valuable? It was broken!" the amethyst replied, with a little more force this time.

All the while the two gems were argueing, Pan felt hope slowly slipping away. Trying to find the dragon balls without a dragon radar was proving to be difficult, even with Majin Buu's help. Theys stood on the balcony of what appeared to be a beachside shack hanging off the cliff. Buu suddenly became impatient.

"Do two gems know where dragon ball is or not?" Buu demanded.

The Pearl, after being interrupted from her rant, took a moment to recompose herself before replying. "We're very sorry, but thanks to my friend here, we don't know where it is anymore."

"Are you sure?" Pan asked. "Could it be in the spot where miss Amethyst threw it still?"

"You're welcome to go have a look around Beach City if you want," Amethyst replied. "Not sure what you'd want with a broken dragon ball though."

"You won't find it there," a voice called from inside the house called out.

Pan and Buu looked passed Pearl and saw an exceedingly tall woman with a square afro and wearing sunglasses. She approached the doorway where Pan and Buu were standing with Pearl.

"What do you meen, Garnet?" Pearl asked.

"The Dragon ball," Garnet replied. "You won't find it in Beach City."

"Why won't we find it there, Miss Garnet?" Pan asked.

Garnet smiled and adjusted her shades before replying. "Let's just say that the Dragon ball in question is now in safe and soon to be capable hands."

"How Garnet know that?" Buu asked, suspiciously.

Garnet giggled before responding. "Let's just say that it is the most likely of three possibilities that could have occurred."

"Garnet has the ability to see multiple future possibilities," Pearl explained. "She can-"

"SHE CAN SEE THE FUTURE!" Amethyst suddenly exclaimed, giving Pan a major fright.

Pearl sighed as she continued. "I'm not sure you'll understand."

"I think I'd surprise you, then," Pan said with a smirk. She had never met a clairvoyant before, nor did she know anyone personally who could see events that haven't happened yet, but she had heard of such people existing, and after witnessing the whole planet shaking itself to peaces for no good reason, meeting a gem who could see into the future didn't surprise her in the slightest.

"Well, thank you for your help, anyway," Pan said politely before bowing. She turned to leave but was stopped with a hand on her shoulder.

"Pan," she heard Garnet's voice say. She turned around and saw Garnet resting her hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know what you want with the dragon balls," She continued. "But what ever you do, _don't summon that dragon!_ "

Buu was the first to sound confused. "Buu thought that the point of finding Dragon Balls is to summon Dragon."

Pan nodded in agreement before asking. "Why shouldn't we summon Shenron, Miss Garnet?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Garnet replied before returning to the house, leaving both Pan and Buu with their mouths hanging open in confusion.

Pan shrugged as she brought herself back to her senses. "Well, nothing here. Let's get to finding those other Dragon ball's, Buu."

Buu nodded before taking to the sky, once again in search of the elusive Dragon balls.

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Bra pulled on her right glove and flexed the hand that wore it, testing its fit. Satisfied that it fit right, she ran out of her bedroom and down the stairs of her house and headed for the door. As she reached it, a familiar voice halted her in her tracks.

"Where do you think you're going, Bra?"

Bra whirled around on the spot and faced her mother, who had her hands on her hips and held a stern look in her eyes.

"You know I can't let you go outside while it looks like that just yet, young lady," she said. "And why are you dressed like your father?"

Bra's current choice of outfit did in fact resemble her father's battle armour, with a few changes to suit a female. Bra suddenly became aware of the dragon radar that had been hanging on her hip. Instinctively, she reached down and pulled it off, observing the screen. It already had a reading, straight west from where she was.

"Oh, no," her mother objected. "No no no no no! There is no way you are going out there looking for the dragon balls, young lady! I'll call your brother, Trunks, and-"

"Trunks needs to look after Mai, mom," Bra argued. "Besides, I could probably do a better job than him at this stuff, anyway!"

"And what has got that idea in your head, Bra?" her mother asked, cynically.

"Dad," Bra responded simply, causing her mother to fall over backwards with surprise. Bra took this opportunity to continue.

"That's right, mom. Dad's been training me! I've even mastered a couple of his special attacks, now! It's an arrangement we had. I stopped dragging dad out on my shopping sprees and he started training me."

Her mother sat up slowly and rubbed her head. "Look, Bra, if this is about Dr. Melvin, I've already chewed him out numerous times for being a creep to-"

"That's not the point, mom," Bra interrupted. "Look, I may be more interested in what clothes to buy or what party is going on with my friends than being a great martial artist like dad or Goku, but that doesn't mean that I can't do what needs to be done when everything is in jeopardy like they do. I know I can do this, mom!" Bra sighed before putting the dragon radar back on her hip and turning back to the door. "Look, ground me if you want mom, but I'm going. I'm going to find a way to make things right again." With that, she turned the knob on the door and pushed it open. The pavement to the road was cracked and uneven, and some of the trees had fallen onto roofs, but the sun was out and it was a warm day outside. She started her first steps outside the house in a week before her mother once again stopped her.

"Bra, wait," she heard her mother call out. Bra turned around to see her mother standing before her, holding out a small capsule.

"In case you need spares," her mother added.

"Mom!" Bra said, rolling her eyes as she took the capsule.

"I know how you are about your outfits, sweety," her mother said. "And you're definitely gonna get that one torn where you're going."

"How did you even know to make these," Bra asked as tears started forming in her eyes.

"Your father asked me to get these done for you a little while ago," her mother replied. "Now I see why."

Bra smiled and pocketed the capsule before racing to her mother and wrapping her in a tight embrace. She felt her mom return the hug instantly and she stayed there for a moment. When she finally let go, she gave her mom one last smile before taking to the skies westward.

"I love you, Bra!" she heard her mom call out to her.

Bra turned around in the air and replied, "I love you too, mom!" She then turned back to her trajectory and continued in search of the dragon balls.

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Atop a tall thin tower, on a platform in the sky, the door to a dimension of condensed time swung open, allowing two figures to walk out. The first was a dark skinned youth with a spiked Mohawk, wearing a black sleeveless gi and pants. The other had much fairer skin and had wild spiked hair that seemed to poke out in all different directions. He wore a blue gi with yellow pants.

A being with pitch black skin wearing a turban was the first to great them.

"Goku, you're finally out," this latter man said with apparent relief. "Something terrible has happened to the Earth!"

The dark skinned youth spoke up first. "Oh no! Is my village alright?"

"It is for now, Uub," the turban-wearing figure replied. "But their numbers seem to have infiltrated by… something. I don't know if it has anything to do with everything else that has happened."

"Even from all the way up here, I can see that the planet's taken a beating," the fair skinned man with the messy hair said, as he stood at the edge of the lookout. Uub and the last man followed him to the edge.

"It all happened so suddenly, Goku," the last man explained. "One moment there was complete peace, and the next the whole planet decides to shake itself apart."

Goku gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Oh man! I wanted to go to Lord Beerus' planet and train with Vegeta and Whis today! Looks like I'll be hunting the dragon balls so I can fix all this instead."

That's when Uub suddenly had an idea. He had really wanted to impress his master with something, and this was the opportunity to do just that.

"Wait, Master Goku," Uub said. "Why don't you head off to train with Vegeta and Whis. I can go search for the Dragon balls!"

"Young man, I don't think you quite understand what you're volunteering for," the turban-wearing man said.

"Sure I do, Mr. Popo," Uub replied before turning back to Goku. "Master Goku, please. I'm ready for this. You've been putting me through my paces ever since we met at the World Martial Arts Tournament. You've seen what I can do! You've gotta let me do this!" Uub pleaded with Goku with the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster, but Goku wasn't even looking.

"Eh… Well, if you're sure you can handle it, Uub, I guess that shouldn't be a problem," Goku replied before handing Uub a small brown pouch. "Here, you might need these more than I will."

Uub jumped into the air with joy as he accepted the pouch that no doubt had senzu beans inside, before gliding off towards the Earth's surface. "I won't let you down, Master Goku!"

"Have fun!" Goku called out before looking up to the sky. "Now, to find Vegeta…"

"Goku, I really must insist your invol-" before Mr. Popo could finish his sentence, Goku disappeared.

"Why does he always do that," he complained before heading back inside the lookout building.

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"DODGE!"

It was the one word leaving Twilight's mouth as she drilled her dragon friend Spike around the interior of the ship, blasting him with magical blast after magical blast from her horn. He seemed to be doing pretty well, considering that they were up to four times Equus' gravity (or three times Earth's). He was showing signs of tiring however, and a stray blast of magic blasted Spike into a nearby bookshelf, knocking all the books off the shelf and burying him under them once again.

Twilight shook her head with a smile and normalized the gravity inside the ship. She trotted over to the book pile and used her magic to return all the fallen books to the shelves. Once freed, her dragon assistant slowly got to his feet.

"I think we can give this a rest until tomorrow," Twilight said, sitting next to Spike.

"That… sounds like… a good… idea," Spike managed to reply in between breaths. "So… we're done now… right?"

"What are you talking about, Spike?" Twilight asked him.

"With the… training… and the increasing gravity… and stuff," replied Spike. "I mean, we're already holding up three times Earth's gravity, if I remember the ratios correctly."

"Oh, no, Spike," Twilight replied. "We can't stop until we can hold up in ten times Earth's Gravity. Besides, we've still got another five weeks of space time to go.

Spike gulped before responding. "So, more of me having to dodge magic blasts?"

"Yaha," replied Twilight.

"With the gravity increasing every time?" Spike asked nervousely, with beads of sweat beginning to seep out of his forhead.

"Yaha," replied Twilight.

" And more of me being blasted into walls and buried under books?" Spike asked more exasperated this time.

Twilight paused for a moment before replying with, "Yaha!"

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Spike cried out into space as their ship traveled casually through space.

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Zackary had been trying for a whole week to create his ki ball, with no visible results. Today seemed to be no different, as he held he hands in a cup and tried to focus his energy into them. His new friend, Marron, had been very patient with him, for which he was grateful. He stared into his hands and tried with all his mental might to put his energy there.

"Zack, you've got to relax at the same time," Marron said to him. "It should feel effortless when you do it,"

Zackary took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, trying to relax as much as possible. His mind wondered back to his experience in the hospital, how he suddenly felt that burning sensation all over his body that preluded his miracle recovery. He remembered how that felt when it traveled from his heart down to his back and right down his arms to his hands…

"Zack," Marron whispered suddenly. "Open your eyes."

Zackary opened his eyes and was completely taken by surprise at what he saw in his hands.

He had done it. A ki ball glowed fiercely in the cups of his hands. Zackary couldn't keep himself from laughing with excitement. After a week of trying, he had finally done it.

"Oh my god," he said in the middle of his excitement. "I'm doing it! I'm really doing it!"

"You sure are, Zack," Marron said. "Now, try pulling the energy back into your body.

Zackary nodded and focused on the energy going back into his heart. Sure enough, the ki ball disappeared, and Zackary fell backwards, panting heavily.

A senzu bean in Marron's hand appeared in his field of vision. He gratefully accepted it and damn near swallowed it whole, save for a few chomps. He felt his energy soar up to its peak again and he sat up, with a wide grin on his face.

"What changed today, Zack?" Marron asked him.

Zackary looked at Marron and replied. "I remembered what happened to me in the hospital. You know, how I got better. How that energy seemed to travel right through me all on its own."

Zackary had told Marron about his experience with Cancer during their week of training, how he was on the brink of death and then miraculously recovered.

"With a bit of practice using your energy, you'll be flying in no time!" Marron said happily. "But I think I'm going to teach you more than just using your ki to fly."

Zackary tilted his head quizzically and asked, "What do you mean by that, Marron?"

"You remember what I did to Didgeri?" Marron said. "I used my ki as an attack. And there are many more than just that now, too."

"Teach me!" Zackary exclaimed excitedly.

Marron giggled before replying, "Master moving your ki around first, then master flying, and then I can show you some ki attacks."

Zackary nodded, but inside, he couldn't wait to learn how to fight with his ki, too. Suddenly, a thought came to mind and he had to express it to Marron.

"How long will it take me to learn all this," he asked. "Can we search for the rest of the Dragon Balls while I learn?"

"How long it will take depends on you, Zack," Marron replied. "It'll be pretty difficult to search for the dragon balls now until you can fly, though."

Zackary felt his heart sink a little. Marron must have picked up on this.

"Tell you what," She said. "If you can learn what I have to teach you in five weeks, we can get back to our search right afterwards. Sound good."

Zackary looked back up to Marron and nodded, his spirits raised again. He cupped his hands again, once more imagining the heat spreading from his heart and down to his hands. Once again, the ki ball appeared, and glowed brightly, instilling in Zackary a ray of hope for what was to come.

 **Zackary: G'day, it me, Zackary. I've finally got the hang of getting my energy out, and moving it around. I hope I can master all of Marron's lessons in five weeks time.**

 **Uub: Well, a few people in my village seem a bit strange since the last time I saw them, but that's probably cause I haven't seen them in a while. Hey, a dragonball!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: Uub finds the 6 star ball; Zackary is Airborne!**


	11. Zackary is Airborn(couldn't fit it all)

**And it's back once again. Sorry for all of these long no chapter periods. I've been getting distracted by a number of things, and they totally have nothing whatsoever to do with games or anything…**

 **Brownie points to anyone who can guess what has happened to Uub's village before we return there later in the story. Let's see where we're up to now…**

Uub dropped under the clouds so he could get a better look at the ocean bellow. His village on South Island shouldn't be too far away now, and that was where he planned to stop first. It felt like years since he had left his village to train under Son Goku, and he had begun to miss his family dearly. Eventually, said village came into view; a group of huts and farms sitting on a tropical island. To his relief, it all seemed to be in one piece.

 _Just how I left it,_ Uub exclaimed with relief in his head as he descended towards the villages. Small dots slowly turned into people moving between to assorted thatch-roofed huts, as he got closer to the ground. The moment he touched down, he began to feel that something was wrong.

While the people all looked familiar, there were lots of energies that were higher than he would have expected there to be among his people. On top of this, only a few of them recognized Uub and bothered to greet him. It was only a small community where everyone knew everyone else, so Uub had expected a bigger reception. One of the few people to recognize him, a young man about his age with a small tuft of hair on the top of his head, put a hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome back, Uub," the man said. "Glad to see you're ok after everything that happened."

"Glad to see you guys are doing ok too, Sumdi," Uub replied before looking out at all the unresponsive ones with concern. They were all people who he had known and had known him all his life, and yet they seemed to be just going about their daily lives as if Uub returning home after all this time was nothing new. As if they didn't know him at all.

Sumdi volunteered and explanation suddenly. "When the earthquakes hit, a big tsunami came rolling up the beach. Luckily it wasn't very high, so our houses were safe, but a fair few of us were heading back home after a long day of fishing. Our path took us right along the beach. Those of us who got away in time were worried that we had lost the ones who didn't. But, sure enough, the rest of us turned up a few hours later, only… they were different."

"I can see that already," Uub replied. "I thought Aunt Yogi there would recognize me straight away."

"You're not the only thing they seem to have forgotten, Uub," Sumdi continued. "When they came back, they were just wondering aimlessly around the village for a day. We had to show them how to do their jobs all over again. I'm telling you, Uub, something's not right here."

"You're telling me," Uub replied. Suddenly, he remembered who specifically it was he wanted to visit.

"Sumdi, are my mother and brothers ok?" he asked frantically.

"Your brothers are fine," Sumdi replied. "Your mother's…"

"My mother's what, Sumdi?" Uub demanded, frantically grabbing Sumdi's shoulders. Was his mother caught in the tsunami, too? Was she acting strange like the others? The idea that something had happened to his family while he was off training with Goku made him start feeling sick in his stomach.

"Look, Uub," Sumdi said nervously. "I think its best that you go see for yourself. She's definitely not _her_ self, that's for damn sure."

 _Oh no, something_ _ **has**_ _happened,_ Uub thought as he released Sumdi and looked around for his house. He found it right away; an isolated hut on the bottom of a small hill. He raced off to the house and surprised himself with how quickly he reached the front door. He gently, but quickly opened the door, and panic struck him inside and what he saw…

His five younger siblings were all on their knees in front of his mother, who appeared to be berating them all about… something. Like Uub, his five brothers all had spikey mohawks, while his mother had long hair that fell past her shoulders. There was something off about his mother though. Her hair was… messy, for lack of a better word, with strands of hair hanging in front of her eyes. She was also speaking unnaturally fast, so Uub couldn't understand what she was saying. Whatever it was, though, it had brought his siblings to tears.

"Mother! What's going on?" Uub called out, giving everyone present a fright.

Uub's mother turned to him with a look in her eyes that Uub had never seen before; a look of irritation, anger, and general displeasure. Uub swore that he also caught a hint of green for a second, which seemed to disappear as soon as she faced him.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" she asked, or rather growled.

Uub couldn't believe what he was hearing. Had he really been gone that long that even his own mother didn't remember him anymore?

"Mother, I'm your eldest son, Uub," Uub exclaimed, exasperatedly. One of his younger brothers, Acon, rushed to Uub's side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Please go easy on her, big brother," he said. "Ever since she was caught in that Tsunami, her memory has been really foggy. We had just finished explaining who we were the same way you did. She didn't take kindly to being yelled at."

"Yes, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use that tone of voice with me, _Uub,_ " he mother suddenly cut in.

Uub mentally hit himself for being so insensitive and yelling like that. Of course, everyone who was caught in the tsunami started acting strange, not remembering who he or she was.

"I'm so sorry, mother," Uub said, solemnly. "I shouldn't have yelled. You must be very stressed right now, being in an environment that you're not used to anymore. Do you remember the Tsunami?"

Still with that displeasured look upon her face, Uub's mother shook her head in silence.

 _Oh man, I really need those dragonballs, now!_ Uub thought to himself. He then mentally hit himself again and came back to here and now. He needed to figure out what happened to his village. He needed to see where the Tsunami hit.

"Mother, do you mind if I take a look at where the wave hit?" Uub asked carefully.

His mother waved her hand dismissively before replying. "Whatever."

As she turned, Uub once again caught a hint of green light emanating from the edges of her eyes for half a second. It took Uub all this time to realize also that her energy seemed different to what he would have expected from her. It was off somehow.

Uub shook himself back into focus once again and turned to his brothers.

"Acon, Shrin, can you take me to the spot where the tsunami his us first?"

The two younger siblings nodded and rose from their knees to go with Uub to the front door. As he left, he took one more worried glance at his mother, who still held that displeasured look in her eyes, before following his brothers outside.

He followed Acon and Shrin right to the edge of town and all the way out to the Beach. The water around it was strewn and littered with overturned and broken canoes, paddles, fishing nets, and even clothing. It was a sad mess that spoke volumes about the destruction that must have taken place here.

"This wave made it all the way to the village, huh?" Uub asked sadly.

The younger of his two brothers, Shrin, nodded as he replied. "Rampaged all the way up to our place."

Uub bent down and picked up a piece of a paddle that had been broken off. After examining it for a brief moment, he threw it back into the sand, when he heard a dull 'chink' sound come from where it landed. Curiosity got the better of Uub and he pushed the paddle piece aside and saw a faint glint of orange poking out from the sand. He dug at the sand around it until an orange orb was uncovered. Uub picked up the ball and examined it. There were six red stars on one side of it, and a large crack on the top.

 _I hope that crack wasn't from the paddle,_ Uub thought to himself. Though he had never seen one, his gut told him that he knew what it was. Uub gripped the orb tightly, a new determination swelling inside of him now. _I must put my village, my family, together again._

"Acon, Shrin," he called out. "Tell mother I'm going to make everything right again."

"Wait," Acon exclaimed. "You're leaving already? You just got back, though!"

"I know, little brother," Uub replied. "But I've already seen enough to know that our village needs desperate help now." He showed his brothers the orb he found as he continued. "There are six more balls just like this one, and they're our only chance for fixing all of this. Just let mother know that's what I'm doing now, and that I love you all."

Uub waited for his two brothers to give him an affirmative nod before taking to the sky once again. Little did he know that he mother had been watching him from the top of the hill on the Island, her eyes lit up with a lime green glow…

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"You're doing fine, Zack, you just need to relax and let your energy flow in the direction you want it to," Marron said as she leaned against the tree.

Zackary had been attempting flight now for the better part of two days, with seemingly no progress at all (even though Marron continually insisted that there was). This was the third day that he was trying it, and all of his energy was being focused in one direction.

Up.

Zackary tried and tried until he got a headache, just like the last couple of times he tried. He fell back on his butt and rubbed his head with both his hands.

"It's no use, Marron," he complained. "I've been at this for two days now, with no progress whatsoever! Maybe I should just-"

"Hey," Marron interrupted softly. "Just because you didn't move an inch doesn't mean you didn't make any progress. And it is certainly not an excuse to give up!"

Zackary stood back up again and looked down at his hands.

"I'm sorry, Marron," he replied. "I'm just lost on how to make this work."

"What worked for you when you made that ki ball the first time?" Marron asked expectantly.

Zackary looked up to Marron quizzically. "You sure that will work with this?"

"You tell me," Marron replied simply.

Zackary nodded and closed his eyes, trying to take himself back, once again, to his miraculous recovery. The burning sensation in his chest returned and travelled down his arms and throughout his body. Zackary allowed the sensation to fill him up, forgetting completely that he was trying to fly.

Also not noticing that his feet were no longer on the ground…

"Zack," Marron said excitedly. "Open your eyes!"

Zackary opened one eye, then the other, to find that Marron had suddenly shrunk down to his waist height. It took him a little moment to realize that he was no longer on the ground, but rather hovering a few feet in the air. A wide grin formed itself on his face as he realized that he had finally done it.

Marron took a small step towards him as he flew. "Now, Zack, you just have to direct your focus in the direction you want to go. Try-"

Zackary was far to excited to let her finish. He looked directly upwards and took off with lightning speed, soring upwards until he was above the clouds. He stopped just above the clouds and took in the wondrous view of the setting sun. He had only ever seen this view from inside an airplane, and the orange and purple colours dancing about the clouds made his heart skip a beat.

He suddenly became aware of Marron joining him in the sky with him. He turned around to see her giggling.

"Well, I think you've got moving around in the air down pat already," she said through her giggles. "But flying uses a lot of energy, so you have to take it a little easier, other wise you'll-"

Zackary suddenly felt faint and he felt himself drop suddenly as his energy levels plummeted. He didn't fall far, luckily, as Marron was there to catch him.

"… Do that…" she finished. Zackary shook his head vigorously to try and un-fog his vision. When he came to, he found he was hanging off one arm from Marron's hand. She slowly descended back down to their little training spot in the mountains. When they reached it, she sat Zackary down against the tree and tossed a senzu bean to him.

Zackary just managed to catch it and pop it into his mouth. He felt his energy return to normal (or even a bit more than normal – he suddenly noticed how much stronger he felt since starting his lessons with Marron) and stood up from the tree, his smile still plastered on his face.

"I finally did it," he said. "But it'll take some getting used to. How long was I up there for, Marron?"

"A good minute and a half, I think," Marron replied.

Zackary disappointedly looked out over the cliff and put his hands on his hips. "I need more staying power if I'm going to help you find those dragon balls in a hurry," he said.

"That just comes with practice, Zack," Marron replied. "Just try flying for a little bit longer every day and you'll get used to using your energy. You'll need that for when you start learning ki techniques."

"Ki techniques?" Zackary asked. Then he remembered the flying disk of light that decapitated the green skinned biker back in red center town. "You mean like what you did to that digeri guy?"

Marron nodded as she responded. "When you master using your ki, you can use it as a weapon without it completely depleting you. Sometimes it comes in the form of a disk, like the Destructo-Disk I used before. Other times it'll project itself like a ball or a continuous beam, like the Kamehameha."

"Kamehameha?" Zackary asked again, raising an eyebrow.

Marron waved it off. "We'll get to that later. For now, focus on flying, but don't go soaring off into the clouds just yet, ok?"

Zackary nodded and began searching for that heat in his chest again. Before he knew it he was hovering a few feet off the ground again. He looked down at his palms as he thought to himself.

 _So, I need more staying power in the air, and I also need to learn these 'ki techniques', all in a little over four weeks now,_ Zackary let that thought linger for a moment before remembering the promise he made to his family. _Let's see what this new body of mine can do!_ He clenched a fist with determination and looked back out over the cliff, as the last light of the sun disappeared over the horizon.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zack here! I've got a long way to go in such a short amount of time so Marron and I can get to finding those dragon balls!**

 **Marron: Just take it easy, Zack! Don't want you falling out of the sky mid search!**

 **Spike: Whoa! I'm feeling and looking stronger already! Rarity's sure to notice me when we get back home!**

 **Twilight: Just remember to DODGE!**

 **Zachary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: The Final Days of Training; Zackary's Kamehameha!**


	12. The Final Days of Training

**AAAANNNDD We're back, guys! Sorry for the long hiatus, but sh** got Crazy! I have a new computer, work had me exhausted over christmas, and a whole lot of other distractions. Strangely enough though, the new Volume of Rwby is what inspired me to continue this for your reading pleasure, and I should be able to write more frequently from now on. Anyways, Zackary and Marron are still training in the mountains, and Spike and Twilight are still training in space.**

Spike slowly opened his eyes and stretched out his arms before sitting up out of his makeshift bed. After a few minutes of groggily trying to orientate himself, he stood up and began heading towards the new kitchen area that Twilight learned how to create for them. He couldn't believe that he had survived almost six weeks of Twilight throwing him under piles of books already. He suddenly passed a full length mirror (which he didn't remember ever seeing on the ship prior to today) and caught a glimpse of his reflection, stopping him in his tracks.

He did not look like a little chubby drake anymore. He was much taller and had longer and more muscular legs. His arms were also larger and more muscular than before, and his torso sported an impressive six pack. Spike took a moment to admire his new physique, flexing his biceps and triceps in different poses. _Rarity's sure to notice me when I get back home,_ he thought to himself. He soon found himself fantasising about their reunion...

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 _The ship landed just outside the Castle of Friendship, where the rest of Twilight and Spike's friends were waiting. A long ray of light erupted from the side of the ship and faded to reveal the door and the steps leading down. The door opened and Twilight and Spike emerged from the ship, triumphant at their success with the friendship mission. Rarity suddenly galloped over to Spike and threw her forlegs around his neck._

" _Oh, my dear Spikey-Wikey is home!" She exclaimed with delight, before looking at his newly formed muscles. "Spike, have you been working out?"_

" _I sure have," Spike replied proudly. "Twilight and I had to do some serious training to prepare for Earth. It was pretty dangerous too. I even saved her from a vicious monster trying to eat her!"_

" _You saved Twilight?" Rarity gasped before once again wrapping him up in her hooves. "Oh, my hero!"_

 _Spike and Rarity soon locked eyes, and began inching their faces closer... and closer..._

 _And closer..._

 _When suddenly..._

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"DODGE!" Spike crossed his arms in front of his face just in time to block a pair of purple rear hooves flying directly at him. The force of the strike sent him skidding backwards across the floor.

"Really, Twilight?" he complained. "Now?"

Twilight approached with a glowing horn and a determined look in her eye. "Yes Spike. You know the drill already. Now Dodge!"

Twilight began shooting multiple blasts at Spike, who did his best to dodge every one of them. As he dodged, he made his way forward to Twilight, with one claw curled into a fist.

"Now it's your turn to dodge!" He roared as he reached his friend. He threw his fist forward right at Twilight's muzzle, and was very surprised when it instead made contact with her front hoof. He slipped under a punch from the other front hoof and stepped backwards to avoid a round kick coming for his head. He noticed Twilight cock this leg back to deliver a side kick down to his midsection, so he placed a claw in the way of the kick just in time to stop it. Twilight then came around for a straight punch with her opposite front hoof, which Spike blocked with the mirroring arm before throwing punches of his own. Twilight seemed to avoid them all effortlessly. After dodging a final punch from Spike, she threw a punch right back. Spike slipped under it, placing her right in the path of his tail.

 _I have you now,_ Spike thought as his swung his tail right at her. To his surprise, his tail hit nothing but air. He looked around for Twilight but she was seemingly nowhere to be found. With his guard up, he searched the room some more, until the whooshing sound of wings flapping behind him alerted him to her whereabouts. He ducked just as a kick whizzed straight through where his head just was, and was prepared for the inevitable returning kick to his face witht the same leg, which he blocked with both arms. Twilight flew away and landed opposite Spike on her hind legs straight into the stance she was practising from Starswirl's martial arts book. Both combatants breathed heavily as they kept their guards up, each waiting for the other to make the next move.

Twilight was the first to lower her guard and landed back on all fours. "I think we're ready now, Spike."

Spike slowly lowered his guard as he smiled. "About time I'd say."

Twilight's horn glowed for a moment, and Spike instantly felt himself become lighter. That's when it suddenly dawned on him.

"Twilight, were you leaving the gravity controls on?" He asked.

"Sure have, Spike," Twilight replied. "We need to get accustomed to increased gravitational pressure all the time so that we can cope with Earth." She began bounding on her hooves as she continued. "I can't believe we're going to be on a completely different planet in just a few more days!"

"Yeah, exciting stuff!" Spike replied. He turned around to the kitchen area and suddenly came face to face with a pony face with and antler and a horn.

"Exciting indeed!" Discord laughed, causing Spike to leap backwards in surprise.

"Discord! What are you doing here?" Twilight demanded. "Shouldn't you be with Princess Celestia?"

"Actually she's the one who sent me, since I can click my fingers and teleport onto a moving vessel," came the Draconiqus' reply. "I'm here to tell you that the guardian of Earth has been told to expect you."

"The... Guardian of Earth?" Twilight and Spike asked in unison.

"Just look for the Guardian's Lookout," Discord continued. "Can't miss it. It's a flying white circle made out of squares floating in the sky."

"Wait, what-?" Twilight began to protest, but Discord was already preparing to leave.

"OK, bye," Discord clicked his eagle talons and vanished again, leaving a dumbfounded Twilight and Spike wondering what to make of what they just heard.

"How do a bunch of squares make a circle?" Spike asked.

"And why is it flying?" Twilight asked before shaking her head and turning back to Spike. "You... wanna see something amazing, Spike?"

"Sure, Twilight," Spike replied. "Anything to help me stop thinking about that."

Spike watched as Twilight neatly placed her hindquarters on the ground and brought her front hooves up to her chest height. She closed her eyes and just stayed there for a few seconds. A ball of white light with different colours swirling around it suddenly materialised in between her hooves. Spike was about to make a comment about how her using her magic was pretty commonplace, until he noticed her horn.

It wasn't glowing.

"Twilight!" Spike exclaimed. "You're using magic... without your horn!"

"Another trick I learned from Starswirl the Bearded, Spike," Twilight replied. "I also read a little bit more about this kind of thing from Golden Venture's book." The ball of light disappeared as she continued. "Apparently, there are a few Earthlings who can do this as well."

"Seriously?" Spike asked, wide eyed.

Twilight nodded and continued. "That kind of energy that we call 'magic' they call 'ki'. And what they call 'magic' is something different again. Earth really is a fascinating world, Spike. I can't wait to learn more about it now!"

"Just remember what we're doing there, Twi," Spike said.

Twilight nodded before continuing. "Speaking of which, I want to teach you how to do this before we land too, Spike. It could come in handy if you could use magic too."

"Wait," Spike interrupted. "You can teach _me_ to do that magic ball thingy with my claws?"

Twilight nodded before continuing, "Just look for a warm sensation in your chest, and then just, bring it out," Twilight demonstrated again as she explained, her little magic ball sitting happily in her hooves.

Spike nodded and cupped his claws in front of his chest like he saw Twilight do with her hooves. He found the warmth immediately. Then it occurred to him...

"Uh... Twi," he asked. "How exactly do I do that?"

Twilight dissipated her magic ball before replying. "You just... do. Just think about it travelling down your arms and out through your claws."

"Uh... ok..." Spike said as he went back to the warmth in his chest. He began trying to push the energy outward from his chest and into his arms. To his dismay, the warmth in his chest wouldn't budge. After a few minutes of struggling, Spike dropped his arms in frustration.

"It's not working, Twi," he said. "I tried as hard as I could, but-"

"You tried as _hard_ as you could?" Twilight asked rhetorically before shaking her head. "It shouldn't be a struggle, Spike. Do you find breathing fire all that hard?"

"Well, no," Spike replied. "Breathing fire just comes naturally to me. I am a dragon after all."

"Well, just breath fire... through your claws," Twilight said with a big smile.

"Uh... Alright..." Spike stammered, a little bewildered at what his long time carer was asking him to do. He took in a deep breath as if he were about to release a jet of flames, and then summoned that breath to his claws instead of his mouth. To his great surprise, a green ball of light instantly appeared between his claws as he exhaled.

"Whoa, Twilight, how am I doing this?" Spike asked bewildered.

"Exceptionally well, actually, Spike," Twilight replied (not the one Spike was looking for). "Just keep practising that until it becomes as natural as breathing fire."

Spike made his little magic ball disappear and appear again with every breath. After a few tries of this, he turned to Twilight and said "I think it already is, Twi."

A familiar voice suddenly rang out through the ship.

"You will arrive at your destination in approximately 23.5 hours."

"That voice sounded a lot like..." Spike began, but was cut off by Twilight's excited interruption.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" Twilight began frantically looking around the ship. Spike had never seen her move this fast before. After a minute, she returned to him.

"She's not here, though," she said, her eyes downcast in disappointment.

"It must be the ship's magic again," Spike said. "The princess must have set it up so that her voice would make the announcements."

A smile returned to Twilight's face as she replied. "I guess you're right, Spike." With that, they both headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Darkness.

That was all that was in Zackary's vision right now, as the blindfold that Marron had over his eyes blocked all light from entering.

With his guard in front of him, he began feeling the area around him. He took a cautious step forward, then another, then another. Suddenly, he felt a surge of energy rushing at him from behind. He instinctively sidestepped and felt a rush of wind pass his face. He then pulled an elbow back with force and made contact with what felt like the palm of a hand. He turned for a round elbow strike only to his nothing but air, as the energy he was sensing moved away again.

Zackary followed where the energy was going around him. He turned his body to face it square on with his guard in front of him. Suddenly, the energy rushed forward again. Zackary's front arm came into contact with another arm and immediately turned to Tan Sao. He followed this up with a cut down and punch, but the energy he was punching at suddenly disappeared, and, once again, he hit nothing but air. A brief moment of panic at the energy disappearing welled up in Zackary, but he quickly calmed himself and began feeling the air once again.

He suddenly picked up the energy he was looking for lingering on his right side. It was slowly growing and the pressure it was giving off was increasing. Zackary prepared his attack, waiting for it to charge again.

Which it did.

"Gotcha," Zackary whispered as he launched a side kick, which seemed to stop it in its tracks. Zackary heard the skidding of something against the ground. When it stopped, he turned to where he just kicked with a smile on his face. The energy approached him again, this time slower and more calm than before.

"You got really good at that, Zack," he heard Marron's voice say to him before he felt the blindfold being removed from his face. Zackary cautiously opened his eyes and gently allowed them to reacquaint themselves with the light. He looked down at his had and clenched it into a fist. It had been a long six weeks since he began his training, but he had already become so much stronger as a result. He could now fly for longer, move faster, and had even learned Marron's ki blasts in a short time. Speaking of which...

"We're almost done," Marrons said. "Let's just run through our ki blasts again. This time though, try not to blow up anything else."

Zackary winced as he looked down at the patch of brown and black in the greenery bellow, where he had destroyed a section of the forest trying to master his Kamehameha. He brought himself back into focus and faced Marron, ready for his final test.

"Ready when you are, Marron," Zackary said, pulling his fists right to his sides.

Marron nodded before turning away from Zackary with two ki balls in her hands.

"First, the Kienzan," Marron called out and blasted three ki balls into the air.

Instantly, Zackary shot one arm in the air and focused his ki into a disk in his hand. The then threw it straight at the ki balls. It had taken him a little while to get used to the 'inverted controls' involved with using the kienzan, but he eventually got the hang of it, which he demonstrated today by slicing through all of Marron's ki blasts in quick succession. The ki disk returned to Zackary and he caught it and reabsorbed it back into himself.

"Next, the _Scatter_ Kamehameha," Marron called out, as she kicked three large rocks off the edge of the cliff.

Zackary stretched his arms out on either side of his body and focused his ki throught them. The moment his ki balls apeard, he shot them forward, releasing a large beam of ki straight at the flying rocks. Right as his ki blast reached them, Zackary pulled his arms upwards, causing the ki blast to do the same, and then threw his arms down again. As the ki blast fell, it split into three, and hit each of the rocks simultaneously, destroying them completely.

"Last one before we take a break, Zack," Marron replied as she turned back to Zackary. Nothing more needed to be said. Zackary already knew what he had to do.

Bringing his stance low, he cupped his hands down to his right hip, and brought as much energy as he could muster to his hands.

"Ka... me... ha... me..." A shining blue ball of light emerged in his hands. The pressure in his hands began to build and build, but Zackary relented, waiting for all of his energy to gather there. Eventually, he got what his was looking for, and unleashed it all off the cliff.

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!" A huge beam of energy erupted from Zackary's hands, flying above the trees and eventually curling upwards towards the sky, where it disappeared into the distance.

Zackary fell back on his rump as he finished the ki blast. His training with Marron had been tough, for sure, but his final days were the toughest of all. He felt Marron take a seat next to him.

"How did... I do... Marron?" Zackary asked in between breathes.

After a little while, Marron gave her answer.

"You're ready," She said, with a big smile on her face.

Zackary sat himself upright as he asked her excitedly, "Does that mean we can go looking for those Dragonballs, now?"

"Not right away, obviously," Marron replied with a giggle. Zackary looked down at himself. She had a point. He was exhausted.

"Tell ya what," she said. "We'll spend one more night here to recover, then we head out first thing tomorrow morning. How does that sound."

"That sounds awesome," Zackary replied as he slowly stood up. He turned to the single tree that they had and picked up his jacket. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"You think we're the only one's, Marron?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Marron asked back.

"I mean is there anyone else looking for the dragonballs besides us?" Zackary elaborated his question.

"Bound to be," Marron replied. "Don't worry though, they're all friends of mine, now. We won't be hearing from Didgeri anytime soon."

"All of them?" Zackary asked.

"My dad and his friends were the first guardians of Earth to use and protect the Dragonballs," Marron explained. "A group that called themselves 'The Z Fighters'. I guess you could say that we're all one big happy family."

Zackary nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, as long as they're friendly."

"And you don't have to worry about them being selfish with the Dragon's wish, either," Marron added. "They've been protecting the planet for years."

"Was Mr. Satan a part of that group to?" Zackary asked.

"Well... in a manner of speaking, yes," Marron replied. "Are you a fan of him?"

"Am I?" Zackary replied excitedly. "He's only the guy who beat the android, Cell!"

Marron seemed to take in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "Zack, you need to sit down for a second," she said. "There's something I have to tell you..."

 **Zackary: G'day, it's me, Zackary! I can't believe it wasn't Mr. Satan who beat Cell! Talk about Bullsh** media!**

 **Bra: Um, Hello. You're looking for the Dragonballs, too?**

 **Twilight: We're almost there, Spike. Now we just need to find the Guardian's Lookout.**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: Twilight Lands: The Search Finally Begins!**


	13. The Search Finally Begins

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting chapter of Dragonball: Harmony. When we left off, Zackary had just successfully performed the Kamehameha for the first time, and now, with his training with Marron complete, they rest for another day before setting off to find the remaining five Dragon balls. Meanwhile, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her trusty Dragon assistant, Spike, were a mere day from landing on Earth. What exciting adventures await our new heros? And what of Marron's other friends, who were also on the hunt for the elusive wish granting artefacts? Find out now, on Dragonball: Harmony!**

 **(P.S.: I've decided to put the full titles of the chapters in the story this time since I couldn't fit it into the space where it normally goes. Enjoy!)**

Twilight Lands: The Search Finally Begins!

 _Zackary set down the final Dragonball. With all seven in front of him, he could finally make his wish. He looked to his left, where Marron was standing happily. He then turned back to the Dragon Balls and threw his arms in the air. The Balls began to glow for a moment before a long yellow beam shot out from the middle of the cluster. Zackary took this as his queue to make his wish._

" _I wish to bring back my father, and all those who perished in the recent disasters on Earth!" he called out to the light._

 _The light began to take shape, but not of a dragon. Instead, it was changing into a large man with an afro._

" _Sorry, friend, that wish just can't be granted!" The figure said in a eerily familiar voice. Zackary looked on in horror as the light formed not a magical wish-granting dragon, but a giant Mr. Satan! He backed away from the giant Hercule, who was now cackling menacingly._

" _I had you duped, didn't I, sonny? AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The giant Mr. Satan then began to turn dark and split apart into several orbs of darkness which swirled around Zackary._

" _Marron!" he called out to his left, only to find that Marron was no longer next to him. He was alone, facing the darkness._

 _Voices began to ring out around Zackary, which seemed to be coming from the dark orbs. Among them were Hercule Satan's, his own mother's, Master Chu's and another unfamiliar female voice._

" _I had you duped, didn't I sonny?" Said Hercule's voice._

" _You left us for no reason, Zackary!" said his mother's voice._

" _I'm extremely disappointed in you," said Master Chu's._

" _Hey!" called the voice of the unfamiliar female._

 _Zackary covered his ears and huddled into the foetal position. He had failed to save his family and to fulfil his master's dying wish, and his failure was ringing out around him. His eyes began to go foggy as they leaked his sorrow. Despite his best efforts, the voices only seemed to grow louder._

" _I had you duped, didn't I, sonny?"_

" _You left us for no reason, Zackary!"_

" _I'm extremely disappointed in you."_

" _Hey!"_

 ** _"I had you duped, didn't I, sonny?"_**

 ** _"You left us for no reason, Zackary!"_**

 ** _"I'm extremely disappointed in you."_**

 ** _"Hey!"_**

 **" _I had you duped, didn't I, sonny?"_**

 **" _You left us for no reason, Zackary!"_**

 **" _I'm extremely disappointed in you."_**

 **" _Hey!"_**

 **" _I had you duped, didn't I, sonny?"_**

 **" _You left us for no reason, Zackary!"_**

 **" _I'm extremely disappointed in you."_**

 **" _Hey! Wake up!"_**

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Zackary suddenly felt himself being shaken awake. His eyes shot open to find that the sun was just poking out from the horizon. Yet even in the dim light of dawn, he could see who it was who had shaken him awake.

On the left of his vision was Marron, who had her brow furrowed in concern. On the right was another girl, roughly his younger brother, Jordan's age, with blue hair with a red band holding it out of her face. She was also wearing what appeared to be a blue spandex suit underneath some sort of white and gold cuirass and a pair of white gloves and boots. She was the one with her hands on his shoulders.

"Zack, are you OK?" Marron asked worriedly.

Zackary brought one hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes. Much to his relief, the voices were gone. He looked back at Marron as he responded.

"I had a really... horrible dream," he managed to say.

"I'll say," the blue haired girl replied with a chuckle. "I've never seen anyone cry in their sleep before."

Zackary looked at this newcomer and his face slowly started heating up. Had he been crying in his sleep? He thought he could feel the evidence of that still running down his cheek. He could only let his jaw hang open in embarrassment.

"Hey, hey, calm down, buddy," the blue haired girl followed up quickly. "It's over now. Besides, Marron tells me you want to find the Dragon Balls, too."

Zackary took a deep breath and nodded before turning back to Marron.

"Zack, this is Bra," Marron said, pointing with an open hand to the blue haired girl. "Remember how I told you about some friends of mine who were also looking for the Dragon Balls? Well, Bra is one of them."

Bra extended a glove hand to Zackary, which he took and shook while scratching his head.

"It's nice to meet you, Bra," Zackary said sluggishly. "I wish I could have been a bit more-"

"Save the wishing for Shenron, Zack," Bra said as she suddenly pulled Zackary to his feet with surprising strength. "Marron also tells me that she's been training you."

After reacclimatising with being on his feet, Zackary responded. "Yeah. Originally I was just learning how to fly, but then she began teaching me other stuff, too."

"He's a really fast learner, actually," Marron piped in. "Faster than he gives himself credit for. He's pretty descent in a fight, too. He certainly gave me a run for my money after six weeks."

"Six weeks and he's already kicking you around, Marron," Bra asked before turning back to Zackary. "You may still have quite a bit to learn, but if you can do it that quickly then you'll be a match for Goku, soon. I bet you'll be great for our search!"

That put a smile on Zackary's face, even if he didn't know who this 'Goku' was. "Thanks, Bra. That's why I started training with Marron. I want to find those Dragon Balls and make this all right again."

Bra gave a short chuckle before replying. "Well, today's your lucky day, cause I have the Dragon Radar!" With that, Bra pulled out a small circular device that somewhat resembled a pocket watch.

"Oh, thank god!" Marron exclaimed. "I was afraid Zack and I were going to have to look for them the hard way."

Zackary had to shake his head clear, making sure he heard what he heard correctly, before asking "You mean, we can find the Dragon Balls with that thing?"

"Uh, yeah," Bra replied. "That's what it's made for."

Zackary's excitement suddenly exploded out the top of his head. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's g-"

"Settle down, Zack," Marron called out, catching his leg as he was about to fly off. "The radar has to pick up a signal first. We can't just fly off without knowing where we're going."

"Aaaand, got it," Bra announced. Zackary floated around behind Bra to get a good look at the device. It was just a grid on a green screen, with a single dot flashing in the top right part of it.

"Look's like the next one is directly north-north-west from us," Bra continued. "It's on the move, too. Someone else must have picked it up."

"Let's just hope it's someone we know and trust," Marron said as she headed for the tree to get their things. Zackary realised with embarrassment that he would have left his leather jacket on the tree if Marron hadn't caught him. Marron picked up the jacket and threw it to Zackary. He caught it and threw in around himself, arms in sleeves, in one smooth motion.

"Ready for an extended flight, Zack?" Marron asked him.

"You bet I am, Marron," Zackary responded enthusiastically. After Bra and Marron both took to the sky, the three of them zoomed off towards where the dragon radar was taking them.

After flying till well into mid-morning, Zackary was surprised to see that he was still keeping up with the girls (either that or they had slowed down enough to not leave him behind). He suddenly became aware of Marron flying closer to him.

"Zack!" she called out to him. "I'm sorry I had to shatter your world last night. I know how much you looked up to Mr. Satan."

"Don't remind me," Zackary replied, as memories of his dream started returning to his thoughts. "He was a part of my nightmare last night, and if I see him again, I have a few choice words for him."

Marron giggled before she responded. "Don't try too hard. Gohan is actually his son-in-law!"

"I know," Zackary replied. "I met him, Videl and Pan in Harbour City seven weeks back."

"You've met Pan already?" Asked Bra from the lead.

Zackary nodded before replying. "Mr. Satan was treating them to a Yum Cha lunch. My family and I were at the same restaurant at the time."

"Well, you might run into her again," Bra said. "I hear she's looking for the Dragon Balls too."

"Really," Zackary asked. "That would be great! The more the merrier!"

"Speaking of," Marron said. "That guy up ahead looks familiar."

Zackary looked out ahead of Bra to see a humanoid figure in the distance. As they got closer to it, Zackary could see that it apeared to be a dark skinned man with a spiky mohawk, wearing a black sleeveless gi and pants.

"He is, Marron," Bra called back. "That's that kid that Goku flew off to train after that Tournament a while back."

"Oh yeah, I remember now!" Marron exclaimed before cupping her hands on either side of her mouth and calling out. "UUB!"

They closed in on this 'Uub' fairly quickly, and stopped right before him. Zackary suddenly became aware of how much energy he had been using, as he was beginning to pant heavily.

"Marron, Bra," Uub exclaimed. "It's been so long since I've seen you last!"

"I know, right?" Bra replied. "You looking for the Dragon Balls, too?"

Uub nodded before replying. "I really want to impress Master Goku. I think if I could find the Dragon Balls and undo this damage, I could really leave a lasting impression on him, you know?"

"Don't get too worked up over it," Marron said. "He's pretty relaxed with those sorts of things, and he's already impressed with you, Uub."

Uub nodded as he replied. "Well, I guess your right about that." He then turned to Zackary before continuing. "Now, who is this?"

"*Pant*... Name's... *pant *... Zack... *pant * **,"** Zackary managed as he offered a hand to Uub. " *Pant *... It's nice to meet y-" Zackary suddenly felt himself drop, and was caught by his outstretched arm just as he fell by Uub.

"Whoa, there, you need to land, buddy?" Uub asked.

"He just learned how to fly a few weeks ago," Marron explained. "He's not quite used to extended flights yet.

Uub nodded before looking around. "I passed a few Islands here. Maybe we could take a short break and get a bite to eat or something.

Zackary suddenly felt his stomach growl ferociously. He suddenly remembered that none of them had had breakfast before flying after the Dragon Radar's signal.

"That sounds like an excellent idea," he said weakly.

"Just hold on, Zack," Marron said as she positioned herself under his right arm and wrapped her left arm around Zackary's waist and took him off Uub.

"That one looks like a good spot," Uub said. "It's even got a cafe that's still running, too."

"Well, that's where we're eating, then," Bra replied as she sped off towards a small island with a shack like building in the middle. Uub and Marron (carrying Zackary) took off after them.

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After reaching the Island, they sat at the cafe that was there, ordered, and ate their meals. Zackary was quite surprised at the selection of food and the size of the servings, considering its location and what was happening everywhere else in the world at the moment. The price was right, too, as Zackary hardly used any of his cash to pay for all of their meals. After their meals, they began discussing their search for the Dragon Balls, and each of them placed on the table all the ones that they had found. Zackary and Marron put forward the one and two star balls, Uub had the six, and Bra had the four. Every one of them was cracked.

"I wonder what caused them to crack like that?" Zackary asked. "Would that happen if you dropped one of them?"

Bra shrugged and shook her head as she responded. "It's probably nothing to worry about."

"I hope it's nothing to worry about," Zackary said. "I hope they're not broken or something."

"Hey, Zack, don't worry," Uub said. "Even if they are, I'm sure there's a way to fix them."

Zackary nodded as Marron put a hand on his shoulder.

"Besides," Marron added. "As long as we have each other, what could go wrong?"

Zackary nodded and smiled, trying not to think of the nightmare that he had been rescued from by Bra. In his mind, though, this had to work. It was the only way he was going to bring back his father.

"Looks like we've got ourselves another reading," Bra announced. All those at the table tried to crowd around Bra, getting a glimps of the Radar. Zackary saw not one, but three dots slowly making their way onto the scaner.

"Looks like we didn't have to look very far to find them," Bra said. "That is if Zack's ready, of course."

Zackary stood upright and flexed his left arm. Once again, he felt significantly stronger than he did prior to flying off from the mountains.

"Let's do it," Zackary replied with determination. The four of them exited the shack and immediately took to the sky after the reading of Bra's Radar.

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"There it is, Spike," Twilight whispered excitedly. "Aren't you excited, Spike?"

"Should I be," Spike asked. "It looks even worse now than when we were looking at it back in the Castle six weeks ago."

Spike was right. Through the lens that Twilight had created for them in the ship, they could both see that Spike was right. The cracks in the Earth's crust had become much larger, and more cities had disappeared since the cutie mark map had showed it to them back home. There was only a few patches of green left on the land masses, and huge volcanic eruptions appeared to be taking place in certain parts. Still, it did not detract from Twilight's excitement, at least, nor her curiousity.

"What kind of friendship problem would have such a cataclysmic effect on the entire world?" Twilight asked quietly.

"I did a bit more reading from that Golden Venture book," Spike replied. "Apparently this planet had a couple of enormous events called 'World Wars'. Maybe this is the result of a third?"

"No, this kind of damage isn't the result of a major conflict," Twilight said. "Even their nuclear bombs wouldn't continue to create cracks and tidal waves for no reason after it detonated... would it?"

"Hm, he doesn't go to far into nuclear weapons, does he?" Spike thought aloud. Soon though, he shrugged as he added, "Only one way to find out, and we're doing it."

Twilight began bouncing up and down Pinkie Pie style. She even felt her mane frizzing up as she did.

"This must be how Rarity feels every time she opens a new successful boutique!" Twilight exclaimed as she bounced around the ship. "I'm so excited, Spike! We're about to see a whole other world in the cosmos!"

Princess Celestia's voice suddenly rang out through the ship again. "E.T.A.: One hour, thirty seven minutes. Correct landing coordinates needed."

"Landing coordinates?" Twilight asked worriedly. "Aren't we just looking for the Guardian's Lookout?"

"Guardian's Lookout confirmed," the voice rang out again, causing both Spike and Twilight to raise and eyebrow. After a few seconds, they both shrugged and looked back out at the blue, green and brown ball that they were quickly approaching.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"E.T.A.: Fifty minutes. Brace for heat."

"Brace for heat?" Twilight and Spike asked in unison.

The opening that Twilight had created for them closed suddenly, and it started to become quite warm inside the ship. The ship began to shake roughly as well, causing Spike and Twilight to lean against one of the walls.

"Why is it so hot all of a sudden," Spike asked. "Is the outside on fire or something?"

Twilight's eyes widened and her pupils shrunk down to pinpricks as Spike said this.

"Show me what the outside of the ship looks like right now!" she called out. A screen appeared in Twilight and Spikes vision. Displayed thereon was the ship, with flames appearing to spray off from the narrow end as it made its way towards the Earth's surface.

"SPIKE!" Twilight cried out in panic. "THE SHIP _IS_ ON FIRE!"

Before either of the could scream, the image suddenly changed to that of Princess Celestia's face.

"I thought you might get curious about the heat and panic about what you saw, my little pony," She said, in her soothing voice that Twilight had come to know and love. "So I decided to leave this message here let you know that you are in no danger. Sure, its a little warm now, but your vessel isn't actually on fire. You see, my little pony, when an object travels through space, it has no air friction to slow it down, because space is a vacuum. The moment it hit the atmosphere on Earth, it was suddenly introduced to that friction at an extremely high speed, resulting in the sparks you saw in front of the ship. When your ship eventually slows down to a more manageable pace, the sparks will disappear, as it will not be fighting Earth's air so hard. Just breath and try not to panic, as it will all be over soon."

The screen disappeared, leaving Twilight and Spike unsure of what to do with themselves. After a few minutes, Twilight spoke up.

"Golden Venture left that out of his book!"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

After a very rocky twenty five minutes, the ship eventually slowed, stopping the shaking, and allowing Twilight and Spike to reorientate themselves.

"Velocity slowed to account for air friction," The ship's Celestia-voice rang out again. "New E.T.A.: thirty three minutes. Destination: Guardian's Lookout."

"Thank goodness," Twilight panted. "I thought I was about to throw up my breakfast."

"I _did_ throw up my breakfast," Twilight heard Spike complain. She turned to see him standing before a green burning pile of gooey substance, with shards of the gems that he ate still visible. Spike was still huddled over it with his claws on his stomach.

"Don't hunch over it, Spike!" Twilight said as she rushed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for her friend. Spike was already sitting on his makeshift bed by the time Twilight returned to him with the water. The flames had just died down to virtually nothing, leaving a wet pile of ash still sitting in the middle of the ship.

"That's gross," Spike stammered shakily.

"I'll say," Twilight replied. Suddenly, an idea formed in Twilight's mind.

"Ship, what can you tell me about the Guardian's Lookout on Earth?" Twilight asked aloud.

The screen returned to Twilight and Spike's field of vision, showing what appeared to be a huge semi-sphere sitting on a thin pole.

"The Guardian's Lookout." The Voice replied. "Home to the Guardian of Earth and his assistant."

"What can you tell us about the Guardian of Earth?" Twilight asked.

"The Guardian of Earth is responsible for overseeing the continued existence of life on the planet and for creation and maintenance of the Dragon Balls. The Guardian is by tradition, a native of the Planet Namek, generally from the Dragon Clan. Official Title: Kami. Current Guardian of Earth: Dende."

"Huh," Spike said after a sip of water. "His name sounds like code for a penis."

"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, with a reddening face.

"What, it does!" Spike replied. "Can't you imagine a really douchey pony back home saying something like, 'hey mare, you wanna ride my Dende?'"

"Spike... We are minutes away..." Twilight's attempts to scold Spike for his profound language were clearly failing, as her concentration turned from scolding Spike to stifling her own laughter.

"'Hey mare, can my Dende come into your Guardian's Lookout?'" Spike continued the charade, making it harder for Twilight to contain her amusement. Eventually though, she lost the plot, and both her and Spike were rolling around the ship laughing at Spike's antics. Eventually they both calmed down enough to return their attention to the screen.

"That only raises more questions than it answers," Twilight said with a hoof on her chin. "Where is Namek? What are Dragon Balls?"

"I guess we'll learn more while we're on Earth," Spike replied. "Speaking of which, how far are we from the lookout.

"E.T.A.: ten minutes," the ship responded.

"We were laughing at Spike for twenty minutes?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twenty three, to be precise," Spike corrected.

Twilight took in a deep breath and exhaled, releasing all of her frustration at how she could let a whole twenty three minutes slip by her. The ship simply cruised toward it's destination peacefully.

About ten minutes later, a soft 'thump on the bottom of the ship shook both Twilight and Spike out of their thoughts. They looked around the ship but couldn't see anything unsusual.

"This vessel has landed," the ship's voice said. "Have fun on Earth, my little pony."

"Well, that explains that," Spike said, scratching his head. "I wonder when-"

Before Spike could finish his sentence, the doors to the ship lit up again. After a few seconds, the light disappeared, revealing the house door that lead into the ship. Twilight slowly approached the door, and Spike immediately joined his side. Twilight then realised how tall and muscular Spike had become since they started training. She now only stood at Spike's hip height on all fours.

Twilight let out a deep breath and used her magic to open the door.

"This is it, Spike," Twilight said to her long time Dragon friend. "You ready to see Earth?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Spike replied, somewhat nervously. Twilight also just noticed that Spike's voice was also deeper, more...

Grown up...

Pushing that thought aside, Twilight stepped down the steps from the ship, putting one hoof in front of the other. At the bottom of the steps, were two figures, both bipedal type creatures. The one on the right was a green skinned being wearing red and white robes, and the other was a being who's skin was pitch black, save for a set of lips and eyes which popped out against his skin tone, and wore a... Turban, Twilight thought it was called... on its head. As Twilight approached, they both made a low bow until she had reached the very bottom step. When they did rise, it was the green skinned being who spoke first.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle! I am Dende, the new Guardian of Earth. Welcome to Earth..."

 **Twilight: Hello everyone, Twilight Sparkle here! I'll be taking over the Outro today!**

 **Spike: Do you have to?**

 **Twilight: Of course I do, Spike. All the readers need a sneak peak of what's to come! Anyway, so I've finally landed on Earth! I wonder where I'll find our Friendship Problem...**

 **Zackary: Hey, Bra was right, I did run into Pan today. But who's the chewing gum guy with her?**

 **Buu: Me Buu! Me help Pan find Three Dragon Balls!**

 **Twilight: Next time on Dragon Ball Harmony: A Dragon is Summoned: Twilight's Mission Revealed! Don't miss it!**


	14. Twilight's Mission Revealed

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting chapter of Dragonball: Harmony! When we left off, Zackary was introduced to Bra, who had in her possession a Dragon radar. Following the reading on it, they were soon lead to Uub, who also had a Dragon ball on his person. With Bra also having found one, they was more than half way through finding the elusive Dragon balls, but why are they cracked? Is it a bad omen for our new heros?**

 **Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike have finally landed on Earth, and are meeting with Dende. What role will they play in the events to come? Find out now!**

 **A Dragon is Summoned: Twilight's Mission Revealed**

"Hey, it looks like they're heading right for us," Bra called out to the group from the front. "Someone's found them already."

"Hopefully it's someone we know," replied Marron. "Otherwise Zack's gonna have to learn to fight in the air."

"Wait, you guys never covered that?" Uub asked.

"Don't worry, he's a fast learner," Marron replied. "I'm sure that he'll figure it out."

Zackary could only gulp at the prospect of having to fight airborne. Simply _being_ airborne was taxing enough for him already, even though he felt he was starting to get the hang of it. He soon let out a sigh of relief, however, as a pair of figures came into view, one of which he recognised and knew to be friendly.

"Hey look, it _is_ Pan," exclaimed Bra. "And it looks like Majin Buu is with her!"

"Majin Buu?" Zackary asked Marron.

Marron gave him a smile as she replied. "You'll see."

The two groups got closer until they were right near each other and then stopped. Zackary once again found himself gasping for air, but he wasn't falling out the sky this time. Before the group was the familiar black haired girl in her orange sleeveless gi and pants. Just behind her was an unfamiliar, overweight looking being with pink skin and what apeared to be a large antena right on top of its head. It was wearing a black vest and white pants and a pair of mits. Then the greetings began.

"Hey Pan!" Bra said excitedly. "You're looking for the Dragon balls too?"

"Sure am, Bra," Pan replied. "Buu's been a great help with that. We've found three already!"

"We saw," said Marron. "And we have the other four!"

"Really! We have all seven now!" Pan exclaimed. "Buu told me he sensed that one of them was out here, but now we have all seven!"

Zackary would have spoken up at this point, but he was still trying to suck air into his lungs. Pan seemed to notice him first though, and approached him.

"Hey, I remember you," she said. "Zack, right?"

"Yeah... good to... see you... again... Pan," Zackary replied in between breaths.

"You're looking for the Dragon balls too?" Pan asked. "When did you learn how to fly?"

"Actually... Marron... taught me," said Zackary. He soon became aware of Uub and Marron on either side of him ready to catch him.

"He just learned a month and a half ago," Marron said. "He's not quite used to extended airtime just yet."

"Friend of Pan is friend of Buu," the pink being suddenly said with an uncharacteristically high pitched voice as it rushed at Zackary with its arms extended. "Buu give you energy!"

Zackary felt a power surge through his body as he begain to glow pink. When the glowing subsided, Zackary found himself no longer panting or feeling any kind of exhaustion. He looked up at the pink creature, which now had its arms down, and wore a wide smile on its face.

"I... thank you, mate," Zackary said as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "What's your name?"

"Me Buu," the pink being replied. "You Zack. Buu like you. You get strong quick."

"Ch... Cheers, Buu," Zackary replied hesitantly. Zackary felt a little unsure of what to make of this 'Buu' character. He was definitely on their side, that much was evident.

Pan giggled a bit before speaking up. "You'll get used to it eventually. Buu's a little eccentric when he's in a good mood."

"Well, as long as he's friendly," Zackary managed to say before Buu wrapped him up in a tight embrace. He could feel his ribcage being compressed painfully by this hug, but at least he could stop focusing and flying for a brief moment before Buu eventually let him go.

Pan then approached Uub and said. "You've been awefully quiet. You're name's Uub, right?"

Zackary looked over and saw that Uub's cheeks had reddened and he and Pan looked at each other.

"Uh.. yeah, that's me." Uub replied. "You're Goku's granddaughter, right?"

"My name's Pan," Pan said with a small giggle.

Uub began scratching the back of his head as he replied. "Oh, sorry, Pan. It's really nice to meet you again."

"You don't have to apologise, Uub," Pan said, clearly amused by Uub's awkwardness.

"If we're done re-enacting high school, we have a dragon to summon," Bra announced impatiently.

"Yes," Zackary said as he shook himself back into focus. Watching Uub and Pan's antics was a bit distracting for him, to say the least. He looked around before continuing. "We should probably find a safe spot to land first, unless of course we can summon this 'Shenron' in mid air."

"That would be a neat trick," Marron replied. "But you're right, Zack. We need to land first."

"That Island with the cafe isn't too far away from us," Uub said. "We can head back their and do it."

"There's a cafe around here?" Pan said excitedly. "That's great. Buu and I forgot to have breakfast when Buu said he could sense another Dragon ball nearby."

"Then it's settled," Zackary said, turning back to the direction of the island cafe, with the group following close behind.

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"It's an honor to meet you, Dende," Twilight said to their host, simultaneously kicking Spike to keep him from laughing. "I do have a question though. How did you know we were coming?"

"We were informed by King Kai, who was informed by your Princess Celestia," the black skinned man in the turban replied.

"King Kai?" Spike asked.

"He's the overseer of the North Galaxy," Dende replied. "Anyway, you were summoned here by your 'cutie mark map', if I understand correctly."

"That's right, Mr. Dende," Twilight replied, prompting a chuckle from the black skinned man with the turban (and from Spike). "We're here to solve a friendship problem."

"Well, I don't know about any 'friendship problems', but Earth could sure use all the help it can get," Dende replied sadly as he made his way to the edge of the lookout. Twilight and Spike followed their guides curiously to the edge and looked right down when they reached it.

"As you can see," the turban clad man said. "None of these disasters are at all natural. Something caused the Earth to suddenly shake itself apart."

"The cutie mark map showed me a sneak peak of this before I left." Twilight said. "How can I help with this?"

"I imagine that that is what you are here to find out, Princess Sparkle," Dende replied.

"Well, it's never been easy, has it, Twilight?" said Spike with a nonchalant sigh. "What do we do now?"

Twilight pondered Spike's question for a moment. She barely even knew enough about this world to even determine where to begin. Then she remembered a question that she had in her mind from the last few days of her travels.

"Mr. Dende," she said. "Could you tell me about 'the Dragon Balls', please?"

Dende smiled as he replied. "Of course, Princess Sparkle. Please, come and have a seat."

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"Finally, we have all seven Dragon Balls," Uub said enthusiastically.

Zackary smiled contently at the collection that they had amassed. All of them were gathered in a small bunch in no particular order, just waiting to be ignited. But something still lingered in the back of Zackary's mind. He had to voice it.

"Would it still work the same way if they're all cracked like this," he asked. "That kind of raises alarm bells in my mind."

"Like I said, Zack, it's probably nothing to worry about," Bra replied. "We'll just summon the Dragon, ask him what the deal is, and then, if there's a way to fix it, we do it."

"If worse comes to worse, it'll just mean taking it to Dende," Uub added.

Zackary remembered Marron telling him about the Guardian's lookout during his training with her. He had never heard her say his name, though.

"I don't know who this 'Dende' is," he said. "But his name sounds like code for a penis."

The rest of the group was silent at this. After a few moments, though, Marron spoke up.

"You know what, I've never actually thought of that before, it totally does," she said with a small giggle.

"Hey gurl," Buu suddenly piped up. "You wanna see my Dende?"

Everyone had a good laugh over this. When it died down, Zackary noticed that he felt a lot better. He looked back down at the Dragon Balls with a new sense of hope. Finally, it was all going to be right again.

"You wanna do the honors?" Marron asked Zackary. Zackary smiled and took a couple of steps forward. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them again and throwing his hands up into the air.

Nothing happened.

He could feel the others waiting expectantly for him to do something else, but he had expected something from the Dragon Balls to appear.

"Uh... guys," he finally said after a minute of having his arms in the air. "How do I summon the Dragon?"

This question elicited more laughter from the group. Zackary's face began to heat up after this.

"Perhaps we should all do it together," Pan said after the laughter died down once more. "Zack can learn by following us."

"That's actually a great idea, Pan," Uub said enthusiastically as he leaped to Zackary's left side. The others gathered around him as well, all with their hands in the air.

"Now Zack, try and say it with us, ok?" Marron said. Zackary nodded and listened for what they would say. When they spoke, he found it easy to keep up.

"Eternal Dragon, by your name we summon you forth: Shenron!"

The Dragon Balls began to glow. Zackary and the others waited in anticipation for what was to come. Zackary's worry began to return, however, when the Dragon Balls suddenly turned a dark blue. Smoke began to seep out of the cracks in them at and alarming rate, and shoot up into the sky. The smoke eventually began to form a figure, but not one that Zackary was hoping for.

"Guys," Zackary asked. "Is this supposed to happen?"

"It's never happened like this before," Marron replied.

"What's going on?" Buu cried out.

The group could only stop and stair in wonder as the smoke began to turn into a giant being. It vaguely resembled an eastern dragon, but it was holding a cigar in one of it's claws. Its scales were the same dark blue colour as the Dragon Balls were now. It glared at the group with glowing red eyes. It did not look at all friendly.

"That's not Shenron, is it?" Zackary asked again. He could almost hear them all shaking their heads.

"This isn't supposed to happen at all," Pan said before calling up to the Dragon. "Hey! Where's Shenron? Are you going to be the one granting us our wishes instead."

There was a moment of silence. The Dark Dragon took a big puff of his cigar and blew the smoke down on Zackary and his new friends, causing them all to cough and splutter.

 _He'd better, or all this was a waste of time after all,_ Zackary thought to himself worriedly.

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"So these Dragon Balls will summon this 'Shenron' guy and he'll grant you any three wishes?" Spike asked.

"Depending on the scale and size of your wishes, yes," Dende replied. "He has limits, you see. If you were to, say, wish an entire planet's worth of dead people back to life, that would be the only wish he would be able to grant."

Twilight took a sip of her tea before asking. "I take it that's quite a common thing to wish for?"

"You have no idea," Dende replied.

The Turban wearing man, who's name Twilight learned was Mr. Popo, suddenly rushed in on their little tea party.

"Dende, it looks like someone has tried to summon the Dragon again," he said. "But... with not so good results."

"What do you mean, Mr. Popo?" Dende asked. "Forgive me, Princess Twilight, I think there's something wrong and I need to see to it?"

"I'll come with you," Twilight replied. "It may be related to why I was summoned here."

The four of them ran back outside to the edge of the lookout to find a very different setting. The sky had turned pitch black, with not even the clouds visible. Lightning coursed throughout the sky and the following sound of thunder was almost deafening to Twilight, who covered her ears with her wings.

"Well, everything seems normal for a dragon summoning," Dende observed. "Except..."

"Is that normal, Mr. Dende?" Spike asked, pointing out to the horizon. Twilight squinted and could barely make out a column of dark blue smoke shooting up to the Sky.

"That... no, that's not normal at all," Dende said shakily. "Something has gone horribly, horribly wrong with the Dragon Balls!"

Twilight's ears suddenly perked up. Perhaps this is what she was sent here for.

"That's where we'll start, then," Twilight said. "Thank you for your help, Mr. Dende. C'mon, Spike!"

She galloped underneath Spike and scooped him up as she took to the sky. Her dragon assistant was much taller than he used to be, so he could no longer sit normally on her back, and was instead clinging around her collar line.

"Be careful!" She heard Dende call out to her as she flew in the direction of the smoke.

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The six of them finally cleared the cigar smoke and managed to look up at the dark dragon. It was glaring at them now, or rather, right at Zackary. Zackary gulped at the sight of those completely red eyes glaring down at his own. Suddenly, the Dragon began to cackle loudly.

"What's the big deal?" Bra demanded. "Are you here to grant us our wish or not?"

The Dragon stopped cackling and looked back down at the group. Then, finally, it spoke.

"I'm not interested in granting any wishes," it said, with an ominous and dark tone.

Zackary felt his knees go week. They buckled under him and he fell forward onto them. The voices from his nightmare began to ring in his head again. He put his hands to his ears, but of course that did no good.

The dragon sucked in another large puff of smoke and blew, but as it did, it evaporated back into smoke that travelled back down to the Dragon Balls. The smoke then seemed to carry the Dragon Balls away, turning into dark eastern dragons that snaked their way in all different directions with a Dragon Ball each. When they disappeared, the sky turned back to normal, leaving a dumbfounded Zackary and his friends standing there wondering what had happened.

Zackary fell forwards onto all fours, as his eyes began to tear up. He had failed in his mission, and the voices that now rang in his head were a constant reminder.

"Hey Buu," Pan said. "You think this is what Garnet ment?"

"Buu think so, now," Buu replied.

"Wait, who's Garnet?" Uub asked. "What did she tell you?"

"She insisted that we don't summon the Dragon," Pan replied. "She wouldn't tell us why, though."

"Don't you think that's information worth sharing?" Uub asked again.

"Honestly, I was with Bra the whole time, Ididn't think it was anything to worry about," Pan answered.

"Well, this is just f* #ing great," Bra shouted suddenly. "Thanks for the heads-up, Pan! Now we know to take them to Dende first! Oh wait, we already potentially made things so much worse!"

"Pan, calm down, this isn't going to make anything better," Pan said.

"Pan was as much to know that this would happen as any of us," Uub added.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN AFTER THAT!" Bra exclaimed. "All I wanted to do was..."

The argument drowned out of Zackary's attention in favour of the destructive voices in his head. He began to sob hard at his failure. He had to return to his mother and brothers and tell them that he failed.

They would never see their father again.

The voices suddenly disappeared when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Zackary looked up to see Marron, looking solemnly at him.

That was the end of Zackary's control. He clenched his eyes shut and began to sob loudly. He felt Marron pull him into a tight embrace as he did.

"Marron," he managed to say in between sobs. "I failed... I'm sorry..."

"We all did, Zack," Marron replied sadly. "We all did. But we can't give up now. There's got to be a way to fix this."

Any hope that Zackary had was slowly seeping away. With the rest of the group now arguing amongst themselves, what could they hope to accomplish. He let his anguish go into Marron's shoulder, when suddenly...

"ATTENTION, EARTHLINGS..."

A booming female voice stopped everyone in their tracks. Zackary looked up to the source of the voice with tears still in his eyes, and couldn't believe what he was looking at...

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"There is no need to be fighting amongst yourselves," Twilight announced, while casting a voice amplifying spell. "All you need to do is talk with one another calmly about any issues you may have, and work together to come up with a solution. I'm sure that if you all put your heads together, your friendship will make it through anything!" Twilight turned back to look at her cutie mark and waited for it to flash. Spike was still hanging off her neck, but luckily he was not putting enough pressure on her to bother her. She became disappointed when it didn't flash.

"That wasn't it, Spike," she said to her dragon assistant. "I was so sure."

"Come on, Twilight," Spike said. "When has it ever been that simple?"

"Well I-" Twilight began, but was cut off by another voice from the group she was just announcing too.

"Um..." Twilight looked down and immediately felt her cheeks heat up, as she suddenly became aware that all of the earthlings were now giving her the most confused looks she had ever seen on any living creature ever. Despite her embarrassment, she took this moment to observe the group she was dealing with.

They all appeared human, like in the world through her mirror portal to Sunset Shimmer's dimension. On the ground was a man in a leather jacket and blue jeans, who looked like he had been crying. Next to him was a woman, in an orange... thing that looked like one of Rainbow Dash's Karate gis but with no sleaves, and orange pants with a blue undershirt. She had blonde hair and dark eyes and didn't appear to have a visible nose. Among the four on their feet, was a man with dark skin and a spikey mohawk. He wore a black sleeveless karate gi and pants. Another girl stood next to him with black hair, dressed similarly to the blonde girl on the ground. By them stood another girl, this time with blue hair being held back with a read hairband. She was wearing some kind of skin tight suit under some kind of armour, and had white gloves and boots. The being that drew her attention the most, however, was the fat pink coloured gum-looking individual who appeared to have a giant antenna sticking out from his head. He wore a black vest with white pants, a purple cape tied around his neck and a pair of mits on his hands. This individual spoke first.

"Can Buu help you?" he seemed to demand.

Twilight shook herself back into focus before replying. "Well, actually I'm here to help you." She slowly descended and landed before the group before continuing. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant, Spike." She indicated Spike, who gave the group a short wave. "We've been sent to your planet to help you resolve your friendship problem!"

There was silence for a long time as Twilight finished her introduction with a wide grin. They all looked to one another, seemingly unsure of what to make of this.

"Come on, Princess Celestia's been sending talking ponies here for years," Spike suddenly said. "Don't tell me you haven't seen one before?"

All was still quiet, and a few of them began muttering amongst themselves. Twilight suddenly noticed the young man in the leather jacket stand up, dry his eyes and approach her.

"I don't know about any 'friendship problems'," he said with an unfamiliar accent. "But we could definitely use all the help we can get." The man suddenly turned back to his friends as he continued. "And by the way, guys, she's right. Arguing over it isn't going to solve anything. I have a feeling that our fight for the Dragon Balls isn't over. We need to work together in order to get through this."

The blue and black haired girls seemed to look down as the leather clad man said this. He turned back to Twilight, drying his eyes some more, and kneeling down to meet her at her eye level. Twilight notice that when he was standing, she reached his waist level on all fours, just like on Spike.

"Sorry for our awkward staring before, Miss Sparkle," he said. "It's good to meet you. My name's Zack." He opened his hand and offered it to Twilight.

Twilight offered up her hoof, which he took and shook gently. "It's nice to meet you, Zack," she replied. Zack stood up and turned back to his group. The blonde woman was next to speak.

"Well, guys, aren't you going to introduce yourselves?" she said. "Hi there, Twilight Sparkle. My name's Marron."

"I'm Pan," the black haired girl said.

"Hey, I'm Uub," the dark skinned mohawked man said.

"Me Buu," said the Pink blob man.

"And my name is Bra," said the blue haired girl in the strange armour. "Welcome to Earth."

"Thank you," Twilight replied. "It's really nice to meet you all. Now that we have intruductions out of the way, what kind of help do you need?"

The man named Zack looked down at his had before clenching it into a fist. He looked back at Twilight with a new look of determination in his eye.

"We need to fix the Dragon Balls," he said.

Twilight was a bit taken aback by this statement. She had only learned about the Dragonballs existing a few moments ago, and now she needed to fix them. She observed the rest of the group and saw that she was not the only one who was surprised. The blue haired girl named Bra seemed to be the most surprised of them all. Zack approached her.

"Do the Dragon Balls still show up on your radar?" he asked.

Bra hesitantly reached behind her a pulled out some sort of round object and looked at it.

"It looks like they do," she replied. "In fact, there's one just a few miles East from here."

"Right," Zack said. "Then there's no time to lose. Let's-"

"Wait!" the girl named Pan cut in, followed by a low rumble that seemed to emanate from her as well. "Can Buu and I get something to eat, first?"

Zack let out a sight before saying, "You know what, I could do with a cup of tea right now,"

There were a few noised of agreement from the others, including "same," and "me too!". Twilight followed them all to a shack on the edge of the island that they were on.

"You want anything, Miss Sparkle?" Zack asked.

"Please, just call me Twilight," Twilight replied. "And if they have any hay burgers, I'll have one of those."

"Well, you never know," Bra spoke up. "There have been ponies here for a little while now, we might just be able to get that."

Twilight trotted happily towards the group, with Spike close behind.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. I'm more determined than ever to get that wish!**

 **Twilight: And Spike and I are gonna be right here with you!**

 **Spike: Ugh, what's that smell?**

 **Uub: Oh no! My Village!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball: Harmony: The Two Star Dragon; Uub's Village in Danger! Don't miss it!**


	15. Uub's Village in Danger!

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting chapter of Dragonball: Harmony! When we left off, Zackary and his new friends attempted to summon the Eternal Dragon, Shenron, only to summon a mysterious dragon of darkness instead. The evil being separated the Dragon Balls once again, denying our heroes their wish. It was in this moment of despair when a helping hoof came along, in the form of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her dragon assistant, Spike. Resolving to work together, our new band of heroes set off to once again collect all seven Dragon Balls. What dangers await them on their quest to save the world? Find out now...**

 **The Two Star Dragon; Uub's Village in Danger!**

Having finished their tea and Pan and Buu's breakfast, the eight of them took to the sky once more, heading eastwards towards the reading on Bra's radar.

"Thanks for that, Zack," Pan called out. "That meal really hit the spot!"

"No problem," Zackary replied before turning to their newest companions, Twilight and Spike. "I'm sorry we couldn't get you those hay burgers you asked for."

"It's no problem at all, Zack," Twilight replied. "That banana bread was actually delicious! To think that you could turn banana's into bread? This is a fascinating world indeed. Isn't that right, Spike?"

Zack followed Twilight's gaze to Spike, to see tears flowing from his eyes.

"You alright, mate?" Zack asked him.

"I tried bacon for the first time ever," he cried. "It was delicious!"

"Why is that a reason to be sad, Spike?" Twilight asked him.

"Because if I tried to make that back home, Fluttershy would flip!" came the dragon's reply.

"Why would Fluttershy be mad about that?" Twilight asked, confused.

"Twilight," Spike wept. "It's made out of pig!"

"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed. "You ate an animal?"

"Guys," Bra called out to everyone. "We're getting closer to the Dragon Ball. Be on the lookout."

Zackary turned his attention back ahead, and then cocked one eyebrow at what he saw. Dozens of small figures were floating on the water on the horizon. As they got closer, Zackary could see that they were canoes.

"Wait, what's going on here?" he heard Uub ask.

"Why? What's wrong, Uub?" Pan asked him.

The whole group stopped and turned to Uub, who's eyes were wide and mouth agape. He seemed to be taking shallow breaths.

"Is everything ok, buddy?" Zackary asked him.

"Those canoes," Uub began. "They're from my village."

"Ok," said Marron. "What's so weird about that?"

"Well, that's all of them, as far as I can see," Uub answered. "It's as if the whole village up and left. But..."

"What's wrong, Uub?" Zackary asked him. "What would cause them to do that?"

"I... I don't know," Uub replied. "We're a poor village, we don't have the resources to move around and try to find a new home."

"I think we need to do some investigating, don't you, Spike?" Twilight asked the Dragon clinging to her neck.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Spike muttered.

"We're right behind you, Uub," Bra said.

"Buu have Uub's back," Buu called out.

Zackary caught Uub's eye and nodded to him. Uub nodded back with a small smile before flying off towards the canoes.

Zackary and the gang followed Uub right down to the middle of the cluster, where there was a canoe carrying five young boys, all with Mohawks like Uub, and one man with just a small tuft of hair on the top of his head. They all looked up and began to cry out.

"Uub, we're here!" they called all at different times.

Zackary came to a halt next to Uub. He was starting to get the hang of flying for long periods of time, so he wasn't as tired as the previous two episodes.

"Brothers, what's wrong with the village?" Uub asked. "Why is everyone out here?"

"Uub, I can't explain it," the man with the hair tuft replied. "One minute everything is fine, the next this big column of smoke lands in the water just off the island and we are all assaulted by the worst smell imaginable."

"So you evacuated because it smells bad?" Spike asked, earning him a sharp look from Twilight.

"It's not just that," the man continued. "The very water around it has gone sour. Plastic, metal, and even pieces of human waste started popping out everywhere. We were almost afraid that our canoes would disintegrate as we made our escape."

"Sudden pollution," Bra said fearfully. "That's a really bad sign, guys."

"You think... we did that," Pan asked. "When we tried to summon the dragon?"

"It would certainly explain the radar," Zackary said before asking the man, "Which way is your village, sir?"

"You wanna investigate that, be my guest," the man replied. "But I warn you, that smell was slowly killing us as we ran. If I were you I'd spend as little time there as I can."

Zackary nodded before turning to Uub. "The Dragon Ball is in your village, Uub, and I reckon it's the cause of whatever is happening to it. We need to get in there and grab it."

"I agree, Zack," Uub replied before turning back to the canoe. "My friends and I will be back in no time at all."

"Wait, big brother," one of the Mohawk boys called out. "There's something else you should know. We couldn't take mother with us when we left."

"WHAT!" Uub exclaimed. "You mean she's still on that island?"

"Well, about that..." the boy replied. The other Mohawk children pulled a wrapped up blanket from the bottom of the canoe. They began to unwrap a section of it to reveal the face of a woman. The skin was a pale grey, as if she had been dead for weeks, and the face was already showing signs of decay. Zackary could hear Twilight and Spike both throwing up behind him.

"It looks like she's been dead for at least... six weeks," Bra stated.

"What! But I saw her five weeks ago," Uub said. "She was very much alive then."

"No, Uub," the boy who spoke said. "You saw what she was like. She didn't even remember you. And now we have solid proof that it wasn't her. And it quit possibly happened to everyone else who got caught in the tsunami."

"So... who the hell did we leave on that Island?" Uub asked angrily. "What kind of monster would deceive us like this?"

"Twilight," Zackary heard Spike say shakily. "You don't suppose that this planet has... has..."

"I hope not, Spike," Twilight replied.

"Planet has what?" Buu suddenly demanded. Zackary turned around to Twilight and Spike.

"Twilight, do you have an idea of who did this?" he asked the winged unicorn (or horned pegasus, he couldn't tell which).

Twilight sighed as she responded. "Well, in my homeworld, Equestria, there exists and creature that disguises itself as the loved ones of its victims and feeds off the love that that pony gives them. These creatures are called 'Changelings'. I was hoping that they don't exist here in your world."

Zackary could hear Uub grit his teeth.

"So, Uub's village could have been under the influence of these 'changelings'," Pan asked worriedly.

"We're not going to find out by staying here," Zackary said before putting a hand on Uub's shoulder. "Let's go." Uub turned to Zackary and nodded. Together, the group followed Bra's radar further eastwards.

They flew in silence, quickly closing in on their target. Zackary took this opportunity to practice his energy sensing. He began with his new friends, who's energy he was still learning to recognise. Uub's energy was understandably frantic, almost angry in feel. He couldn't sense Twilight at all, and he made a mental note in his mind to ask Marron why. Suddenly, he sensed a completely unfamiliar energy from the water bellow. A faint one, that was fading. He looked down and came to a grinding halt, lost in complete shock at what he saw. He was not the only one either, as his friends also stopped with him at the sight.

The water bellow was littered with bodies of strange, equine-looking creatures. They were all black in colour and had holes in all of their legs. Each of them had sky-blue eyes with no irises or pupils and thin, clear insect like wings, as well as curved horns on their heads.

"There are changelings here, alright," Spike muttered.

"Something's wrong with them though, Spike," said Twilight, with a hint of concern in her voice. "They don't seem to be moving at all. It's almost as if they're..." Twilight stopped herself, as if to think of a more appropriate word to describe them. Zackary however finished the sentence for her anyway.

"...Dying," he said, before descending towards the water. He could feel his friends following gingerly behind him. Zackary zoned in on the fading energy and stopped just above one of the fallen changelings. He plucked it out of the water to find that it was still breathing. Zackary suddenly noticed the faint waft of a foul oder lingering in the air just above the water. When his friends joined him, they seemed to notice it too, particularly Twilight and Spike.

"Ugh! What is that?" Spike complained. "It smells like Manehattan's garbage tip!"

"I've never heard of changelings creating anything that smells like this," Twilight said in between gags.

"Not... doing... of... Changelings..." Zackary suddenly heard a voice from the changeling in his arms. All of them snapped their attention to it. Its war breathing heavily, and it was clear that it was on its last legs.

Pan suddenly joined Zackary's side. "Tell us who did this to you!" she said frantically.

Still struggling, the dying changeling continued. "Mother... in... danger... help..." with that, it's head rolled back and it fell limp, unmoving, and no longer breathing.

Zackary let it fall out of his arms and back into the water and turned back to the group to see Uub's frustrated demeanour, the teary eyes of Pan and Marron, Bra's determined poise, Buu's perplexed expression and Twilight and Spike still covering their noses.

"I wonder who the mother is of these changelings," Spike asked. "They look similar to Chrysalis' brood."

"We have to hurry if we want to find out," Zackary said. "Come on, we're almost there."

As the group flew closer to their target, they noticed more and more dead or dying changelings. They also noticed that the smell was becoming stronger, and they had to fly higher and higher to avoid it. Eventually though, no amount of height could escape the horrendous assault on their nostrils, and it it began to effect some more than others. When an island came into view, the group had to stop for Twilight and Spike, who were both coughing violently.

"Are you two ok?" Pan asked. "What's going on?"

Neither Twilight or Spike could answer, as they were to busy coughing.

"Guys," Bra called out. "I think I know where the smell's coming from, now."

Zackary looked at Bra, who was looking back down at the water bellow. Zackary followed her gaze and became appalled at what he saw. Strewn throughout the water were pieces of plastic, glass, rotten food scraps, rusted metal and the like.

"Why ocean look like garbage dump?" Buu complained.

"This must be what killed all those changelings," Marron said, turning back to Twilight. "And now it's killing Twilight and Spike. This amount of pollution must not exist in Equestria."

Zackary clenched his fists in frustration. His quest to fix everything was getting harder and harder each passing moment. He calmed himself as much as he could before speaking up.

"Marron, can you take Twilight and Spike back to the Canoes?" he asked. "They won't be able to help anyone if they die here."

"Be careful, Zack," Marron said as she nodded. "I don't know what you'll be facing there."

With that, she scooped up Twilight and Spike on either shoulder and flew back to where the canoes were gathered.

Zackary turned back to their destination: an island in the middle of polluted water.

"Is the Dragon Ball there, Bra?" he asked. Bra nodded in response.

"We have to try and fix my village, too!" Uub exclaimed suddenly. "And find that... _thing..._ that's impersonating my mother on that island!"

"Uub, listen," Pan said softly as she put a hand on Uub's shoulder. "The changeling that's there, if it's still alive, just lost all of its brothers and sisters. Just try to have a bit of compassion when you see it. It's just as much a victim in all of this as you are."

Uub's expression softened as Pan spoke, and he slowly nodded when she finished. Zackary took this as his queue and sped off towards the island, with Pan, Bra, Buu and Uub in tow.

The five of them landed in the middle of an intact village that still stood right on the far shoreline. The smell of rotting garbage was pungent here, and Zackary covered his nose with his jacket to try and avoid the smell. The atmosphere seemed visibly darker here than anywhere else as well, as dark clouds were gathering over the putrid debris. As Zackary turned his gaze towards a hill on the other end of town, he suddenly spotted a woman, with long messy hair, stumbling towards them.

"Guys, I think I found a survivor," he called out to the group from behind his jacket. Forgetting about the smell, he quickly let go of his jacket and rushed to help the poor woman. The other four rushed to keep up with him. The woman looked a lot like Uub's mother, who's corpse they saw in Uub's brothers' canoe. Zackary stopped himself suddenly as he remembered what Uub's brother had said about Uub's mother.

"What's the matter with you, boy," the woman grunted angrilly between ragged breaths. "You're not going to help a poor woman at the end of her life."

"The gig is up, whoever you are," Uub's voice suddenly cut in. "I saw my real mother's body. You can reveal your true self, now."

"How... dare you... son..." it was clear to see that the woman was not coping at all with the pollution around her. "That's... no way... to..."

"Uub, compassion," Pan reminded Uub. Zackary nodded to him, and Uub approached slowly.

"Your fellow changelings aren't coping so well either," Uub said to the woman, with a softer tone this time. "You can't help them like this, can you? And I can't help you unless you show me the truth of who you are."

Zackary swore that he saw the woman's eyes flash green a few times as Uub spoke. As he finished, she looked down to the ground in apparent defeat.

"It's not like... I can... keep this up... anyhow," The woman said, before a green ring lit up at her feet. The ring began moving up the woman's body, and as it did, Zackary could see a dramatic change taking place. Beneath the ring, was a set of four equine-looking legs with holes through them. As the ring got higher, it revealed more of the changeling. It appeared pitch black, like the others, only this one was much taller. It's torso was revealed, showing that it appeared to have some blue wrapping looking blue around it with a green 'shell'. As the transformation completed, it revealed a pair of insect like wings, which also had holes in them, as well as a blue pony like tail and a neck and head covered with a messy blue mane, both of which also had holes through them. This changeling's horn was different, in that as opposed to being curved, it came out all jagged up to the point. The green ring disappeared as the transformation completed, and the changeling collapsed on the ground, coughing and spluttering.

"Oh, man," Bra muttered. "It's in bad shape."

"It's the pollution," Uub said. "We have to get her out of here, now!"

"Her?" Zackary asked, quizzically.

"Zack, this is the mother that the other changeling was talking about," Pan explained.

Zackary's eyes widened in realisation, before he said, "She's not gonna be too happy to find out that her entire brood is dead."

"They're... not... dead..." the changeling managed to stammer. "I can... feel... them... They're all in...pain..."

Zackary sighed. _This will definitely put a wrench in things,_ he thought to himself.

"I don't suppose anyone knows how to get all the changeling's to safety at once," Zackary asked the group.

"My master, Goku, tried to teach me instant transmission," Uub said. "But I haven't mastered it well enough to pull off something like this."

"Looks like it's up to Buu," Buu piped up. Zackary turned just in time to see Buu pull of a section of his own belly, and flap it through the air as if shaking out a bed sheet. Buu's antenna suddenly lit up.

"Get ready for a ride, Changeling mom!" Buu said as a pink aura engulfed the tall Changeling and lifted her into Buu's makeshift hammock. The pink blob man took to the sky with his patient in tow and flew off towards the canoes.

"Damn, I was going to have more fun with that Equestrian Changeling," A deep voice suddenly spoke behind them. Zackary and the remaining three fighters turned around to see a horrific sight...

Just on top of the hill was what appeared to be a giant walking toad, or rather, a great fat mass being supported by two disproportionately thin legs. It seemed to have much longer arms, which were attached to shoulders sporting long black spikes. Smaller spiked also protruded from its head, and a tail swished back and forth behind it. It's face wasn't much to look at either, as it appeared constantly cross-eyed, and its huge mouth bore a, slimy, spiked toothed grin. Its colours did nothing to take away from its hideousness either, being mainly green with a yellow front. However, Zackary's eyes were suddenly drawn to its forehead, where a dark blue sphere with two red stars was embedded.

The two-star Dragon Ball.

"Guys," Bra whispered. "I think we found the Dragon Ball."

"You mean this ugly toad thing has the Dragon Ball?" Uub asked.

"It _is_ the Dragon Ball," Bra said, pointing two its forehead. Pan let out a quiet gasp as she too noticed the dark blue sphere.

The monster's crossed eyes looked up at where Bra was pointing, before laughing evilly.

"Very perceptive, little girl," the thing spoke. "I am indeed the two star Dragon. Just call me Haze Shenron, and this is my humble abode," Haze Shenron waved his hand over the island.

"Your 'humble abode' is my village, you monster!" Uub yelled before charging at the toad dragon.

"Uub, wait," Zackary called out. "We don't know how-"

Zackary was cut off by his own surprise when Uub doubled Haze over with a well placed upper cut, causing the monster to cough out saliva. Uub followed up by leaping into the air and throwing a roundhouse kick straight into its face, sending it flying through the air and into the polluted ocean.

"...strong... it.. is..." Zackary finished slowly. "Wow, this might be easier than I thought."

"I'm not so sure," said Bra.

"What do you mean, Bra?" Pan said to her long time friend.

Pan's question was immediately answered when the ocean seemed to sprout up into a small column of its own accord. Standing atop it was the toad dragon monster.

"Well, thanks for that, I needed a bath," it said before shaking itself dry. It hopped off and landed back on the beach.

"Uub, try and conserve your strength," Bra called out. "I think there's more to this enemy than-"

"AAAAHHHHHH," Uub charged the dragon once again, this time hitting it with a flurry of punches. The monster winced at each one, but Zackary already began to notice what Bra was talking about. Every strike Uub hit it with seemed to be ever so slightly less effective than the last. Uub finished off with another roundhouse kick to its face, sending it flying towards the ocean again, except it didn't quite make the distance. Instead, it landed just short of the tide on the beach.

The monster slowly stood back up and turned back to Uub, laughing.

"Oh, yes, keep them coming, my boy!" It taunted before laughing manically.

As Uub charged again, Pan began to worry. "What's going on? Why aren't Uub's attacks working like they did before?"

Zackary took in a deep breath to sigh, only to be reminded of the stench that surrounded them. He coughed a few times to get the garbage air out of his lungs before a sudden realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.

"I think that Haze Shenron guy must be getting stronger somehow," said Bra.

"It's not Haze Shenron," said Zackary. "It's us."

"What are you talking about?" Bra asked him.

"Look around, girls," Zackary said. "This pollution... it's killing us the same as it did the changelings and Twilight and Spike. We might be less effected by it than they are, but how long do you think it will be before we end up a coughing spluttering mess like they did?"

Pan gasped before letting our a loud cough. "Hey, you're right, Zack. I'm already starting to feel it."

"Then we have to kill this thing and get the Dragon Ball back quickly," Bra said before taking to the sky. "Pan, you take it from bellow, I'll take it from above."

"Girls, wait-" Zackary called out to them.

"You said it yourself, Zack! We wait, we die," Pan replied before charging off to the battle with Bra.

 _If you use up to much of your energy too quickly, you die, too,_ Zackary thought as he observed the battle. Uub was already running out of gas, as he was panting heavily. Bra took a position above Haze Shenron's head, while Pan joined Uub at his side.

"Uub, you have to stop," said Pan. "The polluted air is effecting your ki. We're not going to beat it like this."

"What!" Uub replied. "I thought it was just the ponies! What do we do?"

"We have to take it out as fast as we can, Uub," Pan answered. "Pick your strongest attack and give it all you've got! That's bound to blow him to bits!"

"No, guys! Don't do that!" Zackary called out to them. However, it soon became clear to him that they weren't listening anymore. They all took up different positions around Haze Shenron. Uub took up the stance that Zackary immediately recognised as the Kamehameha, Pan adopted a wide stance and put both hands on her forehead, palms facing out, and Bra brought both arms to her side, both palms facing forward.

Zackary racked his brain trying to come up with a different solution. _We can't use too much power all at once, because that's no guarantee that he will be beaten,_ he thought. _But at the same time, we can't let the fight drag on, either, otherwise we're faced with the same problem._ As began to try harder and more frantically to come up with a way to finish this fight, the others were already preparing their attacks.

"Masenko..." A yellow ki blast formed in Pan's hands.

"Gallick Gun..." A purple one formed in Bra's.

"Kamehame..." A blue one formed in Uub's

Zackary suddenly remembered a lesson he had learned from Master Chu about projecting his energy forward without physically pushing...

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" _Yes, that's it, now ride that energy forward, Zack," Master Chu said. "Use it to attack!"_

 _Zackary rolled into bong sao with one hand and allowed his fuk sao hand to shoot forward passed Master Chu's tan sao hand. Master Chu was being slowly pushed backwards, even as the strikes didn't hit him. Zackary allowed his body to move forward with his intention without tensing or consciously using his muscles, but allowing them to move as they would in this moment. Eventually, he and his master ended their chi sao session._

" _That was very well done, Zackary," Master Chu said. "You're coming a long way now. Just keep on practising your use of thought force, and eventually, you'll be ready to learn my special technique."_

" _Your special technique, master?" Zackary asked him. Master Chu nodded and measured his Wing Chun stance and pulled his fists right back under his armpits. He suddenly went into a deep trance like state. Zackary looked into his eyes as if to try and see what his master was thinking. Suddenly, he felt as if he was being struck by punches right on his face and chest, even though he couldn't see his master moving. When the punching stopped, another great double palm strike knocked him onto his back._

 _Zackary took a few deep breaths before sitting up, only to see that Master Chu was already above him, offering his hand to help him up._

" _That was incredible, Master," Zackary said. "What was that?"_

" _It's a technique I created myself based on the principles of thought force and forward focus," Master Chu replied. "I call it the "Ghost Projection Technique..."_

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 _That's it,_ Zachary thought. _If I can combine that technique with the training that I got with Marron, then maybe-_

"Fire!" Bra called out as she threw her hands forward and a purple beam shot forward at Haze Shenron.

"Ha!" Both Uub and Pan called out in unison as they blasted their ki blasts at the dragon. They all collided with the Dragon and exploded on impact, forcing Zackary to cover his eyes from the brightness of the display. When he uncovered them and looked again, he saw only smoke. Zackary began to focus his ki, preparing to use the Ghost Projection technique, for he knew from his sensing training with Marron, that they had not won yet.

"Looks like you girls have been standing around to long," Haze Shenron's voice broke through the smoke. "And now it looks like you've used up what little energy you had trying to kill me."

The smoke cleared to reveal a barely bruised Haze Shenron, grinning back at the other fighters.

"Wait... What? But, how..." Bra suddenly plummeted back down to the beach, landing with a painful thud. Uub and Pan both collapsed to their knees as well, and began coughing and spluttering.

"Well, it looks like I'm all done, here," said the evil toad monster. "Just need to dispose of the bodies and..."

Zackary looked directly at the shadow dragon as it picked up Uub and Pan in one arm, first. He focused on the effect he wanted to have on it. When he had the clear image in his mind, he exhaled...

"Last but not least, the blue- Argh!" Success! Zackary kept the flow of energy moving and levitated slowly off the ground as Haze Shenron dropped both Uub and Pan and doubled over. He simply allowed his body to ride the wave of energy that he was projecting and sped up towards his target. He brought his hands together, fingers pointing up and down on each hand, and allowed his strike to collide with the toad dragon's face, sending it stumbling back with a sizeable dent in it's jaws.

Zackary landed on one foot before setting down the other as Haze Shenron fell back on his tail. He looked down to see Uub and Pan looking up at him in wonder.

"I was trying to tell you," Zackary explained to them, "That we need to conserve our energy for as long as we can until Marron and Buu come back for us."

"Hehe, sorry, Zack," Pan said weakly. "That probably would've been the best thing to do."

"Looks like its up to you now, buddy," Uub added. "I'm spent, and this smell isn't helping much either."

Zackary nodded to them and looked back at the... empty space where the toad dragon used to be. He closed his eyes and began to search for its energy. He could vaguely feel something sinister somewhere ahead of him, that was slowly becoming more and more intense, as if it were approaching him. Zackary opened his eyes just in time to see Haze Shenron leap out of the rubbish infested water and land on the beach a few yards ahead of him, seemingly in one piece.

"Ah, that's better," the toad grunted. "That was a rather nasty trick you pulled on me, boy. Don't think that I'll give you another chance to do that again!"

Zackary said nothing. He measured out his stance and raised his guard on his centreline.

"So, straight to business, then are we?" Haze asked. "Good, I was getting bored of these other three..."

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here! I just need to hold out until Marron and Buu come back.**

 **Haze Shenron: Have fun with that, little boy, but my new polluted home is slowly killing you as well.**

 **Chrysalis: What? Where am I? Twilight Sparkle?**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: Zackary vs Haze Shenron: Can He Hold Out? Don't miss it!**


	16. Zackary vs Haze Shenron

**Sorry it's taking me so long to update, but my brain is like four sagas ahead already (Yes, there will be more, assuming I can focus on here and now long enough to actually update regularly).**

 **Welcome back, readers, to another exciting episode of Dragonball Harmony! When we left off, our band of heroes followed Bra's dragon radar all the way to Uub's village, only to find its residents sitting in canoes miles away. Our heroes made another shocking discovery as they closed in on the village itself: The community was infiltrated by a hive of changelings from Equestria, disguised as the village's deceased loved ones. These same Changelings were being choked to death by a dark cloud of polluted air over Uub's village, which also began to kill Twilight and Spike. The culprit behind this pollution: a monster that calls itself Haze Shenron, who also appears to physically _be_ the two star dragon ball. After a vicious battle, the contaminated air begins to have an effect on our heroes as well, leaving only Zackary to hold his own against this dreaded monster. Can our least experienced hero hold his own against this dark dragon? Find out now...**

 **Zachary vs Haze Shenron: Can He Hold Out?**

Twilight sucked in as much fresh air as she could as Marron carried her and Spike towards the canoes coming into view. She had never truly appreciated fresh, clean air like she did in that moment. Soon enough, her strength began to return to her muscles and she was able to turn to Spike, who appeared to be in a similar state of euphoria.

"Twilight," he said. "I don't think our training prepared us for that."

"I'm just worried about Zack and the others," Twilight replied. "It might not kill them right away, but pollution that bad is bound to have an effect on them. I can't imagine what it must be like in Uub's village right now."

"Hopefully, they all get out of there alive," Marron put in. "With the dragon ball. Otherwise I'll need to get back in there."

"Hey! Wait up!" Buu's voice suddenly called out from some distance behind them.

Marron stopped to turn around, and Twilight lifted herself off of Marron's shoulder and began flapping her wings to keep afloat. She looked to the horizon behind them and sure enough, Buu was there, carrying a pink sack underneath him as he approached. He stopped some distance in front of them when he reached them.

"Buu, you made it!" Marron cheered. "What's in the giant sack?"

"The changelings," Buu replied simply.

"Really?" Twilight said in surprise. "All of them?"

"All the ones Buu can find," Buu said as he let go of the sack with one hand to scratch his head. As he did, a black head flopped out from one of the corners. Twilight recognised the messy mane and the twisted horn on it immediately, and so did Spike, who was apparently awake and concious now.

"Chrysalis!" They both exclaimed in unison. Marron and Buu snapped their heads towards Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle know changeling mom?" Buu asked.

"Unfortunately," Twilight replied. "She is... was... the queen of the Changelings back in Equestria. Then one of her subjects found a way to survive without feeding on the love of others and used that knowledge to take over leadership of the Changeling Kingdom."

"There's a Changeling _Kingdom_?" Marron asked.

"Yeah, and Thorax is doing a great job running the place," Spike replied, before turning back to Chrysalis' unconscious head. "So this is where she went to plot her revenge, huh?"

"It kinda makes sense," Twilight said. "The increased gravity coupled with the abundance of love from a species which is unaware of the existence of Changelings create the perfect conditions to start a new hive. They would've been stronger than the Changelings of Equestria, since they had to get used to living under higher gravitational pressure."

"But how did she even get here?" Spike said. "I thought Princess Celestia was the one sending all the ponies to Earth."

"Take a guess, Spike," Twilight replied.

"Uh... Right... they can change into ponies," Spike muttered

"You guys are going to have to fill us in on all that later," said Marron. "We need to take a look at these Changelings and see if there are any we can still talk to."

"Chrysalis still conscious," said Buu. "Buu think she tired from coughing."

"Let's set her down with the rest of the fleet then," Marron suggested.

Twilight nodded as she replied. "Good idea, Marron. Perhaps we can show the rest of Uub's village the truth as well."

The three of them took off in the direction of the canoes, with Spike still hanging over Marron's shoulder. As they flew, a question that Twilight had been meaning to ask for some time began burning in her mind.

"Hey Marron, I've been meaning to ask you," She said, gaining Marron's attention. "How is it that you and theothers can fly without wings?"

"Oh, that's easy," Marron replied. "I can just control my energy really well. I just direct it upwards from inside my body and I'm airborne."

"Oh," Twilight said excitedly. "So you're using you ki?"

Marron seemed a bit taken aback by this. "Um... yes, exactly."

"That's pretty much the same way Starlight can do it," Spike said, before suddenly perking up with realisation. "Hey, does that mean I can learn how to fly too?"

"Well, yeah," Marron replied. "I mean, I taught Zack how to do it, so I don't see why you can't learn either. Just first start by-"

Twilight beamed at here dragon assistant as he levitated himself off of Marron's shoulder and continued to fly at their pace.

"...Well, you're a fast learner," Marron stammered.

"We worked on energy control on the way here," Twilight explained. "That's kinda how I know what 'ki' is, too."

"Holy cow, Twilight! I'm flying!" Spike exclaimed. "And I don't need wings or anything! Rainbow Dash is gonna flip out when she sees this!"

"I take it this 'Rainbow Dash' is a friend of yours, Twilight?" Marron asked.

Twilight nodded as the memories of her friends back in Equestria began flooding to the front of her mind. "One of my closest..."

 _I hope I get to see them again soon,_ She thought to herself. _This mission is going to take so much longer than I imagined._

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Zackary slowed his breathing and began relaxing his muscles as much as he could while Haze Shenron chuckled.

"Now I'm gonna make you pay, boy," The toad dragon exclaimed. "If my fists don't kill you the atmosphere will eventually."

"My thinking was not if I kill you first," Zackary replied as he readied his Ghost Projection technique. _Let's bring this guy away from that water..._

Much to Zackary's delight, Haze Shenron was suddenly thrown forward at Zackary, as if he was struck from behind, just as Zackary had intended. Haze bounced his way over to Zackary enough that it only took a small step to get him into punching range. Catching him just as he was upright again, he unleashed a string of chain punches straight into what Zackary assumed was Haze Shenron's neck. As he did this, Zackary suddenly noticed that the big toad was slowly walking backwards towards the water again.

 _Oh no you don't,_ he thought, as he prepared his mind once more. _Let's try something else._

Zackary focused his Ghost Projection behind Haze's head, and suddenly lowered a punch down to his gut at the same time. The punch and the Ghost Projection technique struck Haze at the same time, causing him to double over. Zackary took to the air and brought his knee straight into the monster's chin, before positioning himself behind him and snapping the kneeing leg into Haze's head, sending him flying into the middle of the Island, far from any shoreline.

Zackary quickly returned to the ground and walked over to Haze Shenron, who was struggling to get up already. Eventually, though, he was on his feet, and Zackary stopped a few feet from him.

"So, you can use the force, huh?" the toad monster said, wiping a bit of purple off his bottom lip as he began to laugh again. "I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you, boy. We're just getting started!"

Zackary couldn't help but smirk as Haze Shenron said this. "I know," he replied. The look on Haze's face suddenly changed to that of complete shock. Zackary measured out his stance again and raised his guard in readiness. Suddenly, the toad made a break for it and started running away from Zackary and towards what Zackary assumed was the shore.

Zackary, however, was prepared already, with a Ghost Projection technique right in Haze's path. Haze was suddenly thrown back towards Zackary, who met him with a knee strike right in the middle of the back, causing him to cough up more purple. He followed up with a side slash into Haze's throat, sending the evil toad into the ground. The ground around where Haze Shenron had landed cracked under the impact. Zackary levitated and floated over the grounded toad dragon and waited for him to look up.

"Grrrr... Just you wait little human! You'll see... You can't keep this up forever! You too will succumb to my air."

Zackary adjusted his body so that he was facing Haze Shenron directly, before raising his guard up right under Haze's chin.

"I don't have to keep this up forever, mate," he muttered before once again unloading a flurry of centre line punches at the evil dragon, pushing him deeper and deeper into the ground.

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Uub coudn't believe his eyes or what he was sensing as he struggled to keep his head up to watch the fight. Zack might not be the strongest of the lot, but he was definitely doing the most damage to this Haze Shenron right now.

And yet, for all the damage he was doing, and for all the strategies he had for keeping that freak away from the water, Zack was hardly using any energy at all.

"How... is he... doing... that..." Pan managed to say between breathes.

"I don't... know... Pan..." Uub replied. "But... I think... we have... a chance, now."

"That's it, Zack. Now finish him off," Uub heard Bra attempt to call out.

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Chrysalis slowly opened her eyes to the sight of her children – her fellow Changelings – lying with her on a... giant pink blanket. She took in a deep breath and was relieved to find that the air was clean. She took a moment to savour the clean air entering her lungs before sitting up to survey her surroundings.

She was surrounded by her children, some of who were sitting upright and talking to one another. She seemed to be in one of the corners of this strange, gum-like material she was sitting on. Her head suddenly began to pound and she put a hoof up to her temple to try and alleviate the pain.

"Thank goodness you're awake, Chrysalis," a shockingly familiar voice said behind her.

Chrysalis whipped her head around to see none other that the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle, and her little – wait, not quite so little anymore – Dragon assistant. The later of the two seemed to have suddenly grown, and was now sporting a six-pack and bulging muscles all over his body.

Chrysalis was up on her hooves in a flash at the sight of the purple alicorn hovering above her.

"What do you want, Twilight Sparkle," She said in the most threatening tone she could muster. "Here to take me down at my weakest?"

"Relax, Chrysalis," the dragon said calmly. "No one is going to hurt you. We have a common enemy now."

There was no arguing with that logic. That Haze Shenron monster ruined all of her plans and basically destroyed her new home.

One of the canoes carrying those so called 'humans' pulled up next to the pink thing. Chrysalis recognised them as the children of the human female she was disguised as. One of them spoke up.

"Is that the thing that was impersonating our mother?" the little boy asked.

"Watch who you call a 'thing', boy," Chrysalis warned. "I am a queen!"

"Hey, take it easy," said Twilight Sparkle, before she turned to the canoe. "Go ahead, little one. Just like we talked about."

The younger of the boys, who Chrysalis knew as 'Acon', gingerly climbed out of the canoe with a small sack in his hand. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes as the boy reached into the sack. The other Changelings began to hiss as Acon got closer to her. Suddenly, one of them attacked Acon, only to be intercepted by the fat pink creature with the antenna on its head.

"Try it!" it screamed in an uncharacteristically high pitched voice. "Buu make you unconscious again!"

The other Changelings backed away after it said this. Chrysalis however, didn't lower her guard, even as the boy pulled out a small green coloured bean from the sack. He reached out to Chrysalis with it, somewhat worriedly.

Chrysalis promptly swatted the bean from Acon's hand. "Spare me your useless gifts, boy," she spat. Acon seemed to shrink away in fear, but for some reason didn't run back to his boat.

Chrysalis suddenly noticed a purple light in the side of her vision. She looked towards it to see the bean floating its way back to Acon.

"You're not helping anyone like this, Chrysalis," Twilight Sparkle said.

"Who said I wanted to help anyone, Twilight Sparkle?" Chrysalis retorted.

Another human, this time with fair skin and a blonde mane spoke next. "What about your own children?"

Those words rebounded off the walls inside Chrysalis' head. She looked to her children and saw that they were not in the best shape in the world. Though they were still ready to defend her, most of them were still in pain and even holding onto their bellies like they were starving.

Chrysalis felt her bottom lip twitch as she turned back to Acon, who was offering the same bean again. She sighed in defeat and lit up her own horn, engulfing the bean in her green coloured magic. She levitated the bean up to her eye height and examined it. It just looked like a green bean, and yet she couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"Come on, Chrysalis, just eat it already," the dragon said impatiently, earning him a sharp look from both her and Twilight Sparkle. He seemed to get the message and put his arms up defensively.

"Ok, ok, you can take your time with it if you want," he said quickly.

Chrysalis looked at the bean a bit more before popping it into her mouth. It was crunchier than what she expected from a bean, but it didn't seem to do her any harm. She swallowed and immediately felt the effects. She felt her magic sore up to levels she only remembered having when she fed on Shining Armour's love for Princes Cadence. She looked at one of her front hooves as she took in her new found strength. Her eyes fell back on the young boy, who was now looking at her expectantly. Then she remembered what she did while she was on Earth, and instantly felt her chest tighten.

"Why," she asked him. "I pretended to be your mother. I gave you a false sense of hope. I took away your chance to say goodbye to her. Why would you help me like this?"

Acon looked back up at Twilight Sparkle, who gave him a quick nod. He turned back to Chrysalis and gave his reply.

"I know why you did it, Queen Chrysalis. Twilight told me and my brothers all about Changelings while you were unconscious, how you feed on others love to stay alive. You were looking after you family. No one can blame you for that."

Acon looked back up at Twilight Sparkle worriedly, but it was the dragon who spoke.

"They were your words, kiddo, not ours," he said.

"Go on, Acon," the fair skinned human said. "You can do it."

Acon turned back to Chrysalis and continued.

"But my _real_ mother told me that love is a shared experience. There just can't be one giving and the other receiving, everyone has to be doing both, otherwise no one will be satisfied. That's your problem, isn't it, Queen Chrysalis? That's why you and your children are starving all the time. That's why I gave you the Senzu bean. I wanted to show you that we forgive you, that we didn't run out of love just cause you kept on taking it. Love is infinite. So there's plenty to go around if your willing to _share_ in it with us."

Chrysalis did her best to blink back the tears, but they were already falling down her cheeks. The weight of the guilt she had for all of the things she had put her own children through began to physically drag her off her hooves. Eventually, though, she couldn't hold in her emotions anymore.

"My whole life has been a lie!" She cried out, startling everyone there, including the other Changelings. "My quest to feed off love has been one pointless crusade after another! All I've done is hurt other ponies! Hurt my children! Hurt myself!" With that, she collapsed onto the pink makeshift mattress and let her head hang towards the ocean, adding to it with her tears and sobbing loudly.

"But that doesn't mean it's too late to make a change, Chrysalis," Twilight Sparkle said softly. "Just think about Thorax. He found a way to share love instead of taking it, and now he doesn't hurt anyone, and the other Changelings don't starve anymore."

Chrysalis began to suck in deep, broken breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. How could she possibly redeem herself from this. She had finally saw in herself what Thorax saw in her. In her despair, she threw her head into the ocean and waited for it to disintegrate her.

Only to find that that wasn't happening.

She felt a tiny hand pull her head out of the water. She looked over to who it belonged to and saw the boy, Acon.

"Please don't drown yourself, Queen Chrysalis," he sobbed. "My brothers and I don't have anyone else, now."

Chrysalis momentarily felt her heart break when she heard this, before realising once again that the water didn't kill her. She took a sniff of it, and found it oderless. She lapped a small amount of it with her tongue. It was quite salty, but otherwise, it was clean.

That's when it hit her. She knew what she had to do. She quickly got back to her hooves and used her magic to dry her eyes.

"Listen to me, my children," she announced, causing all of the Changelings to look up at her. "This 'Haze Shenron' has gone quite far enough with his defilement of our home. On my mark, we will enact our vengeance immediately!"

"Who's Haze Shenron?" the dragon asked.

"He's the giant toad on that Island who's probably already killed your friends who are fighting him on that Island," Chrysalis replied. "He's the cause of the pollution around the Island. I'm sure that you, Twilight Sparkle, already know what happens when we Equestrians go anywhere near that Island?"

Twilight nodded as she replied. "It doesn't seem to effect the humans as much. I bet Zack or Uub could beat whoever this Haze Shenron guy is, no sweat."

Chrysalis shook her head. "That polluted air will kill them eventually. That's his secret. The pollution is his power. Even if one of them has managed to hold out this far, all he would need to do is hop right back into that polluted ocean and heal back up again. We need to deal with the pollution first."

"How do we do that?" The pink creature asked.

"Wait for my mark," Chrysalis replied. "All of you!"

With that, she lit up her magic and created a green bubble around her nose and mouth before diving into the water.

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Zackary finished off his flurry when he felt that he had put Haze Shenron in a deep enough hole. He couldn't believe how easy it was to beat him up, especially since he was incredibly conservative with his energy.

 _I can finish him off now!_ He thought to himself as he took to the air once again. _Now's still not the time to go all out, but I think I can end him with this!_

He stopped just a few hards above the hole he had created and cupped his hands at his side.

"Ka... Me... Ha... Me..." he felt his energy coursing down into his hands and the pressure that his ki blast was putting on them. He would end this toad today and take that Dragon Ball.

"Ha!" He released his attack into the hole. The explosion it made upon impacting its target caused the earth to shake. A brilliant light show displayed itself inside Haze Shenron's hole for a few moments. When it died down, there was only smoke rising from the hole.

Zackary landed on his feet just at the hole. He could feel himself breathing heavier now, and beads of sweat climbed their way down his forehead.

 _I hope that did the trick,_ he thought to himself. _As much as I hate to admit it, this Haze Shenron guy is right, there's no way I can keep this up all day._

Zackary looked back up at his fallen friends, who were still out of action, but upright. Bra looked up at him and gave him a thumbs up. Zackary returned the gesture, but he still had a feeling that something wasn't quite right. The ominous clouds were still hanging low overhead, and the polluted stench hanging over the island was still very much present. Something wasn't quite right.

Moments later, Zackary's fears were realised: Haze Shenron suddenly burst out of his hole, with moisture on his body. The cuts and bruises he had sustained in Zackary's fight with him had all but disappeared and he wore a wide grin on his ugly face. Zackary stepped backwards in surprise as he could sense that Haze Shenron's energy had returned to full strength.

"Interesting strategy you had there, boy," Haze gloated. "Keeping me away from the toxic water around the island so I couldn't heal. But you forget: we're on an _Island._ There's only a limited amount of soil between me and my polluted water! Hahahahahahaha!"

Zackary smirked as he replied. "It's no matter, Haze Shenron. It doesn't take a lot of energy to do what I did to you. My mistake. I'll just learn from it and use that knowledge to break you again."

"Let's see how well that works out for you, boy," Haze said before taking in a deep breath.

Zackary narrowed his eyes as he focused his Ghost Projection into Haze's gut before following right behind it with the intention of throwing more chain punches. As his technique hit, Haze Shenron did double over in pain, forcing him to release his breath, unloading a green mist from his mouth. Zackary stopped himself to late and his feet skidded along the ground right into the green cloud, whereupon the worst stench to ever assault Zackary's nostrils suddenly pierced their way right into his brain. Zackary stumbled backwards, covering his mouth as he fell into a coughing fit. He eventually managed to wave the toxic cloud away, only to take a tail to the side of the head, sending him spinning through the air before landing face first in the ground.

Zackary struggled back onto all fours, and started taking deep breaths in an effort to clean his lungs of that disgusting mist: A fatal mistake, he knew, but not one he could help anymore.

"Now it's my turn to kick _you_ around," Haze Shenron's voice said at Zackary's side. He sat up and brought both arms up just in time to block a kick from one of the monster's disproportionately small legs, the force of which sent him rolling away. He used that momentum to get back onto his feet in time for Haze Shenron's next attack; a straight punch right at his nose. Zackary met it with a tan sao pierce and cut down, but had to defend against an oncoming hook punch from the other side. Zackary noticed that Haze's cheeks had puffed up, and quickly threw a punch directly at his chin from his cut down hand. This seemed to do something, even though Zackary felt immediately that his attacks weren't nearly as strong as they were prior to the toxic gas. Shenron released this green cloud straight up instead of at Zackary.

 _Keep him facing away from me,_ Zackary thought as he once again let loose a flurry of chain punches at Haze's chin, keeping his mouth and his face looking upwards. Zackary however, could already feel himself tiring. His shoulders were burning, which was never a good sign for someone using Wing Chun techniques. He felt each punch doing less and less damage despite all his effort to keep them consistent. He didn't know if it was the air, or the toxic cloud, but it was having an effect on his form.

 _Need some distance,_ Zackary thought as he brought his knee right up to his chest and thrust his heel into Haze Shenron, sending him stumbling backwards, but not off his feet. Haze stopped some distance away, once again, with his cheeks puffed and ready.

 _Damn it! No time for distance,_ Zackary thought again as he dived quickly into a forward roll right up to Haze Shenron's gut and used his momentum to deliver a downward elbow strike right into him. He noticed soon after, however, that there was a shadow lingering over him and not a cloud of toxic mist. He looked up to see Haze Shenron looking down at him and grinning.

"Gotcha," he whispered, before opening his mouth and releasing more of the toxic mist right at Zackary. Zackary succumbed to a coughing fit once again, trying in vain to wave the mist away. He attempted to crawl away with one arm and cover his mouth with the other.

Suddenly, Zackary felt a hand grip around one of his ankles. The hand lifted him off the ground and swung him back into the ground painfully. Zackary yelped in pain as he was slammed into the ground multiple times, before being thrown into the air, a noise of a cackling Haze Shenron filling his ears as he ascended.

Zackary was at this point too weak to even attempt energy control. His limbs flopped as he reached peak height before descending back to the ground. As the ground got closer and closer, he could vaguely see a giant toad monster making he way up to him. It soon became clear to Zackary that he was about to be hit by something else. And he was right. Haze Shenron reached him before the ground did, and delivered a painful knee strike straight into Zackary's gut. Zackary coughed out red upon impact. He suddenly felt a massive strike hit him in the middle of the back, sending him falling at terminal velocity to the ground. When he landed, the ground cracked around him, and an enormous surge of pain shot right through the front half of his body.

To Zackary, the mere thought of clenching a fist was too much right now. It felt as if every fibre of his being was screaming to him in agony. It was as if cancer had caught up with him again, and he was back on his death bed. This time, however, there was no power surge to pull him out of it. Suddenly, he remembered his promise to his mother and brothers.

 _I can't let them down,_ he thought to himself as he struggled to get up. The very act of pressing himself up onto all fours shot pain all over his body. Blood dripped out of his nose and mouth as he gritted his teeth.

"You're just fighting to the bitter end, aren't you?" Haze Shenron's voice rang in his ears. Zachary felt a hand pick him up by the back of his jacket. He hung loosely as Haze Shenron dangled him in his fingers.

Zackary dug as deep as he could within himself to search for that burning feeling in his chest once again. After bringing up as much as he could muster, he quickly unzipped his jacket and allowed his body to fall out of it, leaving a confused Haze Shenron waving around an empty leather jacket. As he landed on the ground, Zackary channelled his energy into his hand. This would be his last ditch effort to end this day once and for all.

"Kienzan!" He cried out as a ki disk suddenly materialised in his hand. Zackary quickly flung his destructo-disk with all the might he had left right at Haze Shenron's throat. Much to his dismay, his attack did not find its mark, but instead sliced off one of Haze Shenron's spines before vearing off in another direction.

That was all the energy Zackary had left. His eyes closed and he fell on his back in utter defeat. The sensation of being carried again took over as Zackary struggled to stay awake. When he finally did open his eyes, he found himself staring right out to the polluted ocean. He suddenly became aware that his back was rubbing against someone else. He turned to see Bra's blue hair and limp figure. He looked around and found Pan and Uub, hanging off of what Zackary presumed was Haze Shenron's hand. He suddenly felt himself being turned around to face that ugly toad face.

"Your friends tried to fight back while you were passed out, kiddo," Haze said. "It worked out about as well for them as it did for you. Hahahahahahaha..."

Zackary opened his mouth in an attempt to retort, but all he could manage was a series of weak grunts.

"And to think I didn't even need my Rainbow Glistening Shot either! Just plain old bad breath!" Haze continued to gloat as he approached the water's edge.

"Well, it's been fun, boy," He continued. "That polluted ocean water is going to dissolve you right to the bone when I throw you in there, but before I do, I might as well tell you a little about myself. I was brought into existence when Upa used the dragon balls to wish his father back to life."

Zachary eventually found his voice. "Wait, you're existence? Who's Upa? What the hell are you on about?"

"So you're not Son Goku after all," Haze replied. "Didn't think so either. Don't worry, kid. You'll have plenty of time to figure it all out in the Otherworld!"

As he finished this sentence Haze Shenron cocked his arm back and threw Zackary and Bra out into the polluted water. Zachary managed to look back and see Pan and Uub following close behind. This was the last image he saw before making impact with the water and slowly sinking beneath the garbage...

 **Twilight: Jee-day! Am I saying that right? Anyway, hello everyone, it's Twilight here! Zack and the others are still not back yet. I'm getting a little worried now!**

 **Buu: What take them so long?**

 **Marron: I hope they're all ok...**

 **Chrysalis: Don't worry! I have a way to beat that monster!**

 **Twilight: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: The Fate of Uub's Village: Chrysalis' Plan. Don't miss it!**

 **A/N: As any fans of GT may have noticed, I added a few things to Haze Shenron to shake things up. I may very well be doing this more than once to other antagonists in the story. Try not to freak out. As always, though, thank you for taking the time to have a read of this, and I'm sorry I haven't been uploading as frequently as I know I should, and I will aspire to get this story out more frequently.**

 **On another note, the first Dragonball Harmony Special is officially in the works now. Just be on the lookout for "DBH Special: Parzly, Ancestor of Zackary**


	17. The Fate of Uub's Village

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting chapter of Dragonball Harmony! When we left off, Zachary fought a valiant fight against Haze Shenron, and thought him defeated. However, a critical mistake on Zackary's part cost him the fight, and quite possibly his life, as he, Uub, Pan and Bra were tossed into the polluted ocean.**

 **Meanwhile, Uub's family has managed to make a change in Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen, who now reveals she has a plan for defeating his seemingly unbeatable monster. Can she save Zackary and his friends, or will their bones litter the ocean floor with the rest of the trash. Find out now...**

 **The Fate of Uub's Village: Chrysalis' Plan**

Silence...

Darkness...

A seemingly endless void to sink into...

The only thing the Zackary felt was the water slowly streaming over his body as he sunk, but even that feeling was fading. The only thing running through his mind was the memory of being back on that hospital bed trying desperately not to die.

This time though, there was no burning sensation in his chest to revive him, no sudden power-up to keep him alive, no miraculous recovery. Only the feeling of sinking into a thick void that put more and more pressure on his body the deeper he sunk. He began to feel his skin itch slightly, starting on his exposed arms, then slowly making their way right around his body.

Suddenly, the pressure stopped increasing. He could still feel himself moving, but he could not tell which direction. It all felt the same to him. The murky water swished around him as he was pulled towards an unknown destination exactly the same way. The void was still very much surrounding him, filling his mind with darkness. His body had gone numb now, so he couldn't feel the itching anymore. Unless...

Zackary suddenly felt himself becoming more buoyant, as if he were suddenly floating upwards. Feeling began to return to his body and he was slowly regaining conciousness. Suddenly, his head seemed to break some sort of surface, and he felt himself levitate up out of the murk and down onto a squishy ground. Zackary slowly felt his strength return, and he opened his eyes.

Zackary suddenly flipped onto his side and regurgitated a large mouthful of water. He rolled slowly onto his front and breathed heavily as he attempted to take in his surroundings. He saw that Bulla, Uub and Pan were all slowly regaining conciousness around him, and they weren't the only ones with him on this... pink... landmass, either. Around them were those same changelings he saw in the water on the way to the island, only this time they were very much alive.

"Good, you're awake," an oddly familiar voice said to him. "That didn't take long."

Zackary looked up to see none other than the tall Changeling with the messy mane standing over him. She wasn't coughing her lungs out this time, in fact her stature seemed rather imposing from where Zackary was huddled over.

"Hey, it's you," was all Zackary managed to say.

"Yes, little human, it's... me..." the tall Changeling responded. "And I am Qu... Chrysalis. Please address me as such if you don't mind."

Zackary pushed himself into an upright position, when he was suddenly set upon by and orange and blonde blur. It took him a few seconds to realise that it was Marron wrapping him into a tight hug. He softley returned the embrace and they held it for just a moment before Marron pulled away.

"That Changeling Queen, Chrysalis, told us about Haze Shenron," said Marron. "Are you alright? What did he do to you?"

Zackary rubbed his temples before responding. "I thought I could outlast him by keeping him away from the water and using as little energy as I could, but it was no use. He just found another way to weaken me faster."

"There's no outlasting that repulsive creature while he is surrounded with his pigsty," said Chrysalis. "I'm sure I don't already have to tell you that that is the secret of his success against his enemies."

Zackary nodded before seeing movement in the corner of his eyes. He looked down to see that Uub, Bulla and Pan were slowly coming to. Bulla was the first to sit up.

"I... what happened?" she asked groggily. Her eyes met Zackary's as she asked, "Are you ok, Zack?"

Zackary was about to answer when he suddenly felt energy rushed through his body, bringing it back up to normal. He also suddenly became concious of a purple glow that had surrounded his body as this was happening, and the others who were on the island with him were enveloped with the same aura.

"I'm glad you guys are ok," he heard Twilight's voice behind him. He turned around to see her and Spike (who was now flying on his own, much to Zackary's surprise) smiling down at him. Zachary hopped right up to his feet with his newfound strength and turned back to the Island.

"We can't hit him with everything we have," he said. "We can't outlast him. No matter what we do, we just get screwed over by his pollution."

"And therein lies your answer," Chrysalis replied.

Zackary turned back to the tall Changeling and asked, "What do you mean?"

"The pollution is his strength," Chrysalis replied. "Take that away, and he is nothing more than a giant toad ready to be clubbed to Tartaurus."

"But rubbish water is everywhere," Buu's voice suddenly piped up. "How we do that?"

Chrysalis approached Zackary and asked, "Can you curve your energy attacks, yet, boy?"

"I... curve my energy attacks?" Zackary asked, perplexed.

"We didn't cover that either," Marron replied. "Come to think of it, there's actually a lot of things we never got around to learning."

"No matter," Chrysalis said impatiently. "Watch, learn, and then repeat what I do, understand?"

Zackary nodded as Chrysalis' crooked horn lit up with a lime green. A continuous beam shoot off from her horn into the air, and suddenly curved back down to the ocean. Zackary watched as she made her beam twirl loops in the air before allowing it to dissipate.

"Now it's your turn," Chrysalis turned back to Zackary, who was taken aback by her upfront-ness.

"How do you know I can even-" Zackary began, but Chrysalis interupted him again.

"We don't have time! Blast your energy and curve it!" She said.

"Ok, ok," Zackary prepared his energy in his right hand. A yellow ki ball materialised there, but before he could send it into the sky, Marron spoke up.

"Don't think about curving the energy blast, think of its end destination," she said.

Zackary nodded as he imagined the energy ball returning to him in his other hand. With that image in his mind, he blasted his energy into the sky. After a few yards, much to Zackary's delight, it curved down to the ocean and continued to curve until it was heading back in Zackary's direction. He caught the energy in his left hand, and brought it back into himself.

Zackary turned back to Chrysalis and saw her grinning with immense glee.

"This is going to work," he heard her mutter. She turned back to the others, who were all together now, Uub, Bra, Pan and Buu included. "Listen to me, all of you. This is how we're going to beat Haze Shenron. We're going to pick spots around the Island and use our curving energy blasts to create a whirlpool around the Island. My hope is that this will force all of the pollution down to collect underneath the Island."

"That'll get us closer to the Island without dying," Twilight replied. "But how do we get that garbage out of there?"

"That is where you come in, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Chrysalis replied. "I'm sure that you of all ponies would know a spell that can make that garbage disappear."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she responded. "Kind of. Theoretically it should work."

"That's good enough for me," said Chrysalis happily. "We all know what we are doing, then?"

"Yep," Zackary said, although he was still unsure of what to make of this plan.

"Buu's ready!" Buu exclaimed.

"I'm down," Bulla replied.

"Me too," said Pan.

"At this point, what do we have to lose?" Marron said.

Uub looked down at his clenched fist as he responded. "That Haze Shenron is going to pay for what he did to my village. Let's do it!"

"I guess we're all fighting together, then," said Twilight.

Spike descended down to Chrysalis as he asked her. "So, how's it feel to be one of the good guys, now?"

"I'll tell you when we're done with this," Chrysalis replied.

With that, Zackary followed his friends back into the ocean towards the Island.

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Zackary felt strange being under water again. Last time he was here, he was once again on the brink of death. This time, however, he was very much in control. Even as he felt the pressure of the weight of the water pressing down on his body the deeper he swam, he was still remarkably calm. He had imagined himself to be a little bit more panic-y in a situation like this one, especially knowing the length of time he would have to hold his breath for Chrysalis' plan to work. He was also swimming with his eyes open, something he was never able to do prior to his cancer.

" _Hello, can you guys hear me?_ " he suddenly heard Twilight's voice ring in his head.

" _Loud and clear, Twilight!_ " Spike's voice said next.

" _Yeah, I can hear you,_ " Bulla's voice answered. " _How are you doing that?_ "

" _I'm not, Chrysalis is,_ " Twilight responded. " _And don't ask me how. I don't know either._ "

" _That's not important right now,_ " Chrysalis voice cut in suddenly. " _Alright, I assume that you all can hear me and that you are all right at the edge of the polluted area. You all need to position yourself in such a way that you create an even circle around the island so that this will work._ "

" _Already done,_ " Pan's voice rang out. " _Uub's in place, Buu's in place, Zack's in place, everyone's in place._ "

" _And I am also in place,_ " Chrysalis replied. " _In this case, you all should know what to do already. We're spinning it anticlockwise, so the island should be to everyone's left._ "

Zackary had been facing the island this whole time, so he quickly turned himself to the right.

" _Ok, I'm ready,_ " he called out mentally.

" _Now Zack,_ " Twilight said. " _Are you sure you know what you're doing down there?_ "

" _Positive,_ " Zackary replied. " _I'm ready._ "

" _Ok, just hold still everyone,_ " Chrysalis instructed. " _This will only take a second._ "

Zackary suddenly felt himself being dragged to the ocean floor. He landed softly on his feet. The pressure of the water on his body was much stronger down here.

" _There,_ " said Chrysalis. " _I just positioned everyone on different levels so that we don't end up hitting each other with our energy blasts. Also, we can cover a wider area this way than if we were all in a line. Now, you all know what to do from here..._ "

Zackary nodded and cupped his hands down at his sides. He formed a modest kamehameha ball in his hands as he waited for the count.

" _On three, everyone,_ "Chrysalis instructed. " _One... two... Three!_ "

Zackary shot his hands forward and let his blast loose through the water. He pictured the Island in his mind and imagined his kamehameha wave making a neat circle right around it to pass his left shoulder. It wasn't long before a purple energy wave passed him overhead, followed soon after by a lime green one. Right behind this was a pink one, then three blue ones in succession before finally a fourth blue wave - his wave – passed his left shoulder.

" _That's it everybody! I think it's working,_ " Bulla said excitedly.

" _Keep pushing!_ " came Buu's hight pitched voice for the first time.

Zackary could feel it. The water around him was softly pushing him forward. He dug himself in and held his place, though.

" _That's it guys! You're doing it!_ " Twilight exclaimed. " _Spike and I can get closer now._ "

" _Now, everyone try and tighten your circle around the island,_ " Chrysalis called out.

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"I love the smell of piss and sh** in the morning," Haze Shenron sighed as he exhaled a breath of that gorgeous sewerage smell he had a big whiff of. Today was going exactly as it should. He had his polluted ocean, which would no doubt be slowly spreading across the planet, and his brothers were in other parts of the world ruining it in other ways. To top it all off, Son Goku wasn't here to stop any of them.

Today was going exactly as it should.

"Well," he said as he cracked his knuckles. "Might as well take a quick dip before any other foolish kids come here looking to be heroes or something."

As he made his way to the water's edge, Haze observed some little bits of debris floating along the water...

...Sideways.

"Is that normal?" Haze asked himself as he saw more garbage being taken along some unseen current up the beach. He noticed that the pieces of debris floating in that direction were getting bigger. He also began to see ripples in the water itself.

"What the hell is going on, here," he muttered as he took to the sky to get a better look. He looked down and could not believe what he saw...

His litter and garbage was floating around his island in a neat circle. It was as if they were following circular ripples which were also surrounding the island, and seemed to slowly be getting closer and closer to it. It was as if there was a whirlpool forming...

And his island was right in the centre of it.

"Damn Oceanus!" Haze cursed to himself. "Why does she need to cause trouble here?" He cupped his hands over his mouth to call out to her, until he suddenly noticed a ring of light forming around his island. Haze Narrowed his eyes at this strange phenomenon. The ring seemed to be slowly tightening around the island. Haze looked beyond it to make another startling realization: the water beyond the ring was completely clean!

"Wait a minute..." Haze muttered, before it suddenly occurred to him...

The human heroes were behind this.

"I thought I killed those guys already!" he shouted. "Well, looks like I'll have to do it again!"

Haze opened his mouth and shot the strongest energy wave he could muster right at the ring.

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The force of their man made whirlpool was starting to get to Zackary, as the combination of trying to hold his breath, let off the energy blast, and move in towards the island was beginning to tire him out. Zackary persevered, though. He knew what was at stake.

He suddenly noticed one of the energy blasts above him went flying out of the ring, as if it were knocked off course but some unknown force. It was one of the blue ones, who's exactly it was was answered soon after.

" _Something's hit my kamehameha,_ " Uub's panicky voice echoed in Zackary's head,. " _I've lost control!_ "

" _Damn that Haze Shenron!_ " Chrysalis cursed furiously. " _Uub get back on course however you can. Everyone else, pump up your energy! I'm going to keep that big toad busy!_ "

Zackary shook his head as he dug deep within himself and pulled out more ki to blast into his own kamehameha wave.

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Twilight and Spike followed the ki ring towards the Island, making sure to stay where there was still fresh air.

"Twilight," Spike asked. "Why aren't you using your magic with them? They could sure use our help."

"I know Spike," Twilight replied. "But if there's as much pollution as I think there's gonna be, I'm gonna need all the magic I can save right now."

"Well, I guess that make's sense," Spike replied, scratching his head. "So, we collect all of that trash under the island, and then what?"

"We extract it, Sp-" Twilight stopped when she saw a stray ki blast shoot away from the ring. She immediately felt her blood drain away from her face. Soon after, the lime green disappeared from the ki ring. Something was going horribly wrong.

"I take it that's not supposed to happen," said Spike, pointing at the stray blast.

Twilight looked out to the horizon and saw a small green dot travelling into the distance.

"No, Spike," Twilight sighed. "It's not."

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If it hadn't been for her bubble around her face, Chrysalis would be a coughing spluttering mess like before. The Changeling Queen kept on flying forwards until the Island came into view. She knew what she had to do, and prayed that the Earthlings helping her could complete their task in time. Shortly, her target came into view.

Haze Shenron was in the midst of preparing and energy blast right into the ring that she and the others had created.

 _Not this time,_ Chrysalis thought as she unleashed a magic bolt right in the path of the monster's attack. Both exploded on impact. The monster turned to Chrysalis with a sickening grin.

"We meet again, Changeling Queen," Haze growled. "It seems you just couldn't get enough of my garbage. You're back for more?"

"I cannot overlook the crimes you have committed upon my hive, demon," Chrysalis spat. "You will soon meet your demise at my hooves!"

"So, round two it is, then," Haze replied, cracking his knuckles as he did. "Hope you're well fed, Changeling. You're gonna need all the love you can get your 'hooves' on!" With that, the great toad opened its unnaturally large mouth and prepared a blast of energy.

Chrysalis summoned all the magic she could muster into her horn and blasted it at Haze as he did the same. The two energies collided in between them and battled for supremacy in the middle. Having just had a huge dose of love earlier with the island children, Chrysalis knew she had the strength to hold her own now. Her magic slowly started pushing forward against Haze's blast. The monster suddenly stopped his blast and fazed out of view as Chrysalis' magic whizzed through the empty space where the toad monster used to be.

Chrysalis anticipated an incoming attack and quickly shifted her body across to the right as Haze Shenron reappeared with an outstretched arm and fist. She turned until he was directly behind her and bucked her hind legs at him with all her might. This sent him flying backwards a good distance away, enough for her to turn back and fire another magic blast at him. Haze quickly regained control, however, and swatted Chrysalis' magic away when it reached him. He suddenly charged forward, dodging the magical blasts that Chrysalis was frantically throwing at him. As he reached her, Chrysalis realised with horror what he was about to do, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. As his grip tightened around her horn, she put both front hooves on her mouth and nose to shield them from the toxic smell of the pollution bellow.

"Well, would you look at that," Haze said with a smug tone. "Without your magic, you're pretty useless, huh? At my mercy again, Changeling!"

Chrysalis stifled a cough as Haze Shenron laughed loudly. She looked down at the island to see the progress her human friends were making, and was shocked at what she saw...

The island was slowly spinning on the spot. The energy rings had tightened right around it so the water nearest was spinning at its fastest. The debris and pieces of trash were slowly sinking down to the middle of the whirlpool. Her plan was working, even without her helping.

With new determination, she swung one of her hind legs up into Haze's chin, forcing him to let go of her horn. With control of her magic back, Chrysalis recreated the air bubble around her mouth and nose, before flying about Haze's shocked form and swinging her head in an arc at the monstrosity, firing magic as she did. The arc of magic smashed into Haze and sent him spiralling down to the spinning island. Chrysalis gave chase, charging up another magic blast as she did.

Haze landed on his feet on the island. Chrysalis fired her magic at him with everything she had. To her shock and horror, the big toad swatted the blast right back at her with his tail, spinning on the spot as he did. Chrysalis halted her attack and shifted to the side as she watched her blast soar off into the distance. Suddenly, Haze Shenron appeared right in her field of vision, apparently in mid spin, and Chrysalis felt his tail collide with her face, sending her into the dirt bellow. She landed painfully and bounced, adding to her agony. She could feel the island shifting underneath her. Her magic mask disappeared as she lost concentration. This time, though, she was too late to cover her nose and mouth, and was once again a coughing spluttering mess.

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"Twilight, what are we doing?" Spike asked.

Twilight began to narrow her eyes as she waited for the opportune moment. "We're waiting," she replied to Spike.

"Waiting for what?" Spike asked her.

Twilight pointed to the island, which was now spinning in its place. "See how the island is spinning right now, Spike? Well, that means that the whirlpool is right underneath. If the water's spinning reaches a high enough speed, it'll suck the island right into it."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing!" Spike exclaimed.

"You're right, Spike, it isn't," Twilight replied. "But, there's a little grey area in between now and then that is a very good thing for us."

"Cause it means that we can take out the trash?" Spike asked.

"Exactly," Twilight replied as she watched the last piece of debris, waiting for it to get sucked down to the bottom of the whirlpool. Eventually, it did, and the island was spinning in the spot a lot faster now.

"Now's our chance, Spike," Twilight announced as she created a magic mask for her face and nose. She folded her wings in and dived strength to the abyss bellow.

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Chrysalis did her best to stop her coughing, but the polluted air around her was burning her from the inside. She felt a hand grip around her horn once more and lift her off the ground. Her hooves hung limp as she continued to cough.

"Looks like it's two-for-two for Haze Shenron," said the monster holding her up. "To think that you – a Changeling from Equestria – though you could defeat me?"

Chrysalis finally caught a break from her coughing and took a few gulps of fresh air.

It was in this moment that Chrysalis realised that she was in fact breathing fresh air. She felt strength returning to her limbs, but she kept them limp in the hopes that Haze Shenron wouldn't notice.

"Well, now your 'children' are dead," Haze continued. "Your hive is dead, and now you're going to die when I throw you into my ocean, because your little plan failed!"

Chrysalis stole a glance upward and saw a giant shadow with a violet glow surrounding it. This is when she decided to give up her act. She allowed a smug grin to form on her muzzle.

"Oh did it?" She challenged, throwing her hooves up to either side.

Haze frowned when she said this, but looked in the direction of her hooves. Chrysalis never thought she would feel so much joy at the sight of any living being popping their eyes out of theirs sockets in the manner that Haze Shenron did. His grip around her horn loosened enough for her to fall back the the ground.

"I... It's clean?" Haze stammered. "Where's my piss and s***? Why is the sky clear? What happened to my trash!?"

"You mean this?" The voice of Princess Twilight Sparkle sounded from the sky. Chrysalis got up to her hooves and looked up to see the Princess of Friendship and her dragon assistant hovering next to a giant ball of... stuff.

Suddenly, the water splashed, and six figures emerged – her new Earthling friends. The one she taught energy curving to – Zach – was panting heavily. Haze's attention, however, was still on Twilight and the ball of pollution.

"Hey, give that back right now, little pony!" Haze demanded.

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"Ew, it dripped on me!" Twilight turned to see that some brown liquid from her newly acquired trash had in fact dripped on Spike's arm.

"Sorry, Spike," she said before cleaning it up with her magic.

"I'm warning you, purple pegasus... unicorn... pega- oh look, just give it back!" yelled the big toad demon on the island.

"Nah, I don't think so," Twilight replied. "I think I'll just do this..."

Twilight clapped her hooves together, with the perfect place for all this rubbish in her mind. As she hoped, the pollution vanished from sight.

"I... Wha... Where did you send it!" said the toad demon.

"Where _did_ you send it, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Oh, you know," Twilight replied with a smug smirk on her face. "Places..."

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Discord looked up in bewilderment at the sight of his chaotic realm suddenly being filled with rotting pieces of wood, broken glass, bent pieces of metal and plastic, faeces, and the like.

"WHAT THE F*** IS THIS S***!?" He exclaimed, throwing his eagle claw and lion paw in the air at it.

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Zackary landed on the beach, and was soon joined by Marron, Uub, Bulla, Pan and Buu. He was still sucking air into his lungs and savouring every breath. Never in his life had he had to hold his breath underwater for so long.

"Looks like your advantage is gone, Haze Shenron," Uub exclaimed. "Now hand over that dragon ball, or I'll pry in from your corps."

"What! No way! There's not a change in hell I'm giving this thing up!" Haze Shenron spat back in response.

"You've made your choice then, monster," Uub replied. "You're going to pay for what you did to my village!"

"Allow me, Uub," Chrysalis suddenly interrupted. Zackary suddenly became aware of a low humming noise approaching the island. He turned around to see a dark cloud quickly approaching. As they got closer, Zackary recognised what was approaching immediately.

"Look, more changelings," said Buu excitedly.

The six of them looked in amazement as the other Changelings gathered overhead. Zackary looked once more to Haze Shenron, and couldn't help but chuckle a little. The look on that dark dragon's face was priceless.

"My Children!" Chrysalis announced. "This monstrosity is the cause of our woes on Earth. Tear the flesh from his bones and bring me the blue ball on his head!"

"NOOOOOO!" Haze screamed as the other changelings swarmed him angrily. He managed to swat a few of them away with his hands and tail, but eventually they overwhelmed him. His cries of agony could be heard through the buzzing of changeling wings. After a while, the screaming stopped, and a little blue ball bounced out from the swarm. It rolled all the way to Chrysalis' hooves.

"We did it everyone!" Zackary exclaimed once he got his breath back!

The future was looking much brighter now.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. We finally got the Dragonball back!**

 **Bulla: Now we just need to find the rest of them. I hope we don't get any more toads!**

 **Chrysalis: Well, you don't have to go right away, do you? Why don't you all stay the night?**

 **Zachary: Next time, on Dragonball Harmony: Chrysalis Reformed: Getting to know New Friends! Don't miss it!**

 **Discord: Ok, Mr. Author, I have to stop you right there. Why did you suddenly change the Spelling of Vegeta's Daughter's name?**

 **Author: Well, because I saw Dragonball Super Episode 83, and her name was Bulla, then. And I didn't want to go through every single chapter changing her name, so I'm just going to use this spelling from this chapter forward. Also, there's a scene later on in this series where it might get pretty awkward for everyone if her name was 'Bra'.**

 **Discord: I see. Well, at least everyone will have loads to talk about when Space Ramsay Snow comes to Earth in two Saga's time.**

 **Author: DISCORD!**

 **Discord: I know, I know, no spoilers. Now, if you don't mind, I have some cleaning to do...**


	18. Getting to Know New Friends

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting chapter of Dragonball Harmony. When we left off, Zackary and his friends were saved by none other than the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. With their new-found friendship, they enacted a plan to defeat Haze Shenron by taking away his greatest advantage: the Pollution surrounding the island. Despite Haze Shenron's many attempts to stop them, the plan works brilliantly, allowing the Changeling Hive to finish the monster off once and for all. Are there more evil incarnations of the dragon balls out there? Will the next one be an even greater threat than the last? Our new heroes discuss this, as they take the time to know one another in Uub's Village...**

 **Chrysalis Reformed: Getting to Know New Friends!**

Zachary and the others watched with amazement as the ball turned from a dark blue to a bright orange. The crack that used to go right through it was gone, and it shone brilliantly with it's two red stars. Chrysalis scooped it up with one hoof and handed it to Uub.

"I believe you were looking for this, Uub," Chrysalis said solemnly.

Uub moved his arm toward it slowly, and rather timidly, to take it from her.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"My ways have made a huge mess of things in the past, Uub," Chrysalis replied. "I couldn't earn love, or even _trust_ , from others, so I took their love. I took it and hoarded it away as if it were a finite resource. I've hurt ponies, humans, and even my own changelings in pursuit something that could've been given to me freely if only I had given a little myself." The Changeling queen looked down sadly. "I'm afraid it's a bit too late to make things right, now."

Zackary turned to the shore to see that the other villagers had already arrived at the island and some of them were even pulling their canoes up onto the beach, including Uub's brothers.

"I wouldn't say that," he said out loud as Uub's five brothers rushed toward them. The young boys rushed straight passed Zackary to Uub and Chrysalis. They surrounded Uub in a tight brotherly embrace. Zackary noticed that this caused Chrysalis' stature to droop further, and this wasn't lost on Uub either. Uub suddenly squatted down with his brothers and began whispering something to them. The six of them suddenly turned to Chrysalis and wrapped themselves around her, much to her surprise.

"I... but... why?" She asked, bewildered.

"This is for finally being open and honest with everyone, Chrysalis," Uub replied as he broke his hug. "Including yourself."

Zackary looked around and saw the other Changelings and villagers huddling around them. He soon noticed that Twilight and Spike had joined them.

"I... I'm sorry that I deceived you into thinking I was your m-m-mother," Chrysalis stammered through her sobs. "And I'm s-sorry that I was s-s-so... horrible to you when I did it." Chrysalis stopped to breath and dry her eyes before continuing. "Thank you all for giving me your love regardless. Since you're real mother isn't with us, and your brother, Uub has something else he needs to take care of, I promise that I will take care of you... properly... with all the love I can give."

Chrysalis returned the embrace to Uub and his siblings. After a few moment, Chrysalis suddenly began to glow. A pink cocoon like energy surrounded her as she levitated off the ground. Zackary and the others stared up in wonder as the pink energy spun around her. After a few seconds, a bright flash of light forced Zackary to cover his eyes. When it died down, Zackary looked up once more, only to be amazed at the figure that descended back to the ground.

The first change that Zackary noticed were her colours. Chrysalis' main body was still black, but her mane wasn't so green anymore. It started as a sky blue at the top and slowly transitioned to turquoise at the ends. The same colour scheme applied to her tail. The other parts of her that used to be green, namely the beetle-like shell on her back and the 'wrapping' around her torso, were now a bright goldy-orange colour, and she sported a collar of fur around her neck that was the same colour. The holes in her hooves were gone, and her horn was now a smooth curved shape, rather than the jagged, sharp and almost broken state that it was in before. Her wings were also different, almost glowing with a soft, translucent violet, and also devoid of holes. She landed in the middle of the circle that Uub's family had gathered around her with her eyes closed. After she landed, she opened her eyes. They were the same colour as they were before, only this time her pupils weren't a slit, but were round, giving them a softer, warmer feel. She looked around at Uub and his brothers, then down to her hooves before grinning with delight. She gave them all one more hug before addressing her fellow Changelings.

"I think I finally understand what Thorax wanted for us," she said, her voice holding a new warm and welcoming tone. "We can end our starvation for love by earning it honestly, and sharing it with others as opposed to simply taking it."

Zackary turned to look at the other changelings to see that they were also beginning to see things Chrysalis' new way. They suddenly leaped into the arms of the nearest villager they could find, before they too underwent a similar transformation. As they returned to the ground, Zackary could see that they looked completely different. The transformed changelings were all different colours, from greens, to pinks and even blues and yellows. All of them seemed to be more calm and happy than they were before.

Twilight and Spike stepped out of the crowed towards Chrysalis with big warms smiles on their faces.

"I think you may have learned an important lesson, Queen Chrysalis," said Twilight.

Chrysalis giggled and put up a hoof. "Please, Princess Twilight, there's no need to call me 'Queen' anymore," she replied. "And yes, there is something to be learned here, and Uub helped me to realise it. Trying to deceive others into loving you will only get everyone hurt, including yourself. Haze Shenron's arrival revealed to me that it was time to be honest, not just with everyone around me, but with myself as well." She turned to Uub as she continued. "Thank you, Uub. Thank you all."

"I'm glad that we were able to help, Chrysalis," said Uub. "But the reason Haze Shenron appeared in the first place was because my friends and I tried to summon the dragon, Shenron, with damaged dragon balls. We need to go and finish what we started right away."

"Nonsense, Uub," Chrysalis protested. "You and your friends have fought a long hard battle. This victory is cause for celebration! Surely you can find some time to join us for the night?"

Zackary suddenly heard a loud growl from his own gut, which vibrated painfully in his insides. From what he could see, Pan and Bra were under similar duress.

"You know what," Zackary spoke up. "Why not? That fight made me super hungry!"

"Buu hungry too!" Piped up Buu. His response was followed up with agreeing voices from everyone on the island, changelings included.

"But how will be find food now?" asked a villager, the young man with the tuft of hair on his head. "With all the pollution, the fish in the water will surely be dead."

"Leave that to me," Chrysalis replied with a confident smile.

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"Wow, where did all this fish come from? This is great!" was one of the many cheers from the amazed villagers as they feasted on the food generously supplied by the now reformed Changelings. A few of them had found some drums and were playing music in the background as the village celebrated together around a huge fire. Zackary, Marron, Bulla, Uub, Pan, Buu, Twilight and Spike all sat nearest to where Chrysalis and Uub's five brothers were sitting. They had all decided that it was a good time to get to know each other a little better.

"So Twilight," Marron began. "Why does Chrysalis keep calling you 'Princess Twilight Sparkle'? Are you royalty in Equestria?"

"Well, yes and no," Twilight replied after finishing a chunk of corn. "My official title is 'Princess of Friendship'. My duty is to spread the magic of friendship all over Equestria, and apparently, everywhere else, too!"

"I see," said Bulla. "So you're like a Kai, then?"

"I'm not sure what that is, so I dunno," replied Twilight. "Gotta do some research on that."

"Twilight holds a very important position in Equestria," Spike added. "You'd be surprised how many ponies get the whole friendship thing wrong. Twilight and her friends at home exist to fix all that."

"You're friends at home?" Zackary asked. "I heard Spike say something about a 'Fluttershy' on the way here."

Twilight nodded as she replied. "Together my friends and I are the ponifications of the Elements of Harmony."

"Elements of Harmony?" Bulla asked.

"Yeah. For instance, Fluttershy, who Spike mentioned earlier, represents the Element of Kindness," Twilight continued. "She's a pegasus who cares for a lot of animals and actually cares for a lot of them in a cottage she lives in back home. Then, there's Rarity, the Element of Generosity."

Zackary noticed Spike swoon at the mention of her name. He chuckled at this a little as he listened to Twilight's story.

"She owns a clothing boutique, and she makes some pretty awesome dresses in there," said Twilight. "She's also the most generous pony I know, as you could probably imagine already. Maybe when this is all over, I can get her to whip you guys up something!"

"That sounds great!" said Pan, Bulla and Marron all in unison, earning a few laughs from the others.

"Then, we have Applejack," Twilight continued. "The very essence of honesty and hard work. In fact, that's her Element. Honesty. She lives on an apple farm, a place called Sweet Apple Acres. They do all kinds of things with their apples. Apple pie, apple fritters, apple..."

Twilight paused and looked at Zackary. He suddenly noticed that the whole fish that was in front of him had vanished. A fish spine in his hand told him exactly where it went. Giving a nervous laugh, Zackary promptly dropped the bone.

"I think all this talk of food is making us hungrier," Bulla stated.

"Speaking of food, tell them about Pinkie Pie, Twilight!" Spike said excitedly. "She's the party pony of the bunch. No one throws a party like Pinkie Pie. She has this big party cannon, and she runs a dessert bakery call Sugarcube Corner, and-"

"At the risk of causing our friends to devour all of the changelings' hard work, I suggest we stop talking about food, Spike," Twilight interrupted. "Pinkie Pie is a very... eccentric kind of Pony, who's singular drive is to make everyone around her smile. Her element is Laughter."

"Does Sugarcube corner have candy?" Buu asked suddenly.

"'Does Sugarcube corner have candy?'" said Spike, semi sarcastically. "Oh, Buu, Buu, Buu! Try picturing anything sweet you can imagine and you can bet your bottom... um... what do you Earthlings use to pay for things?"

"Zeni, Spike," Zackary replied.

"Right," Spike continued. "You can bet your bottom Zeni that Sugarcube corner has it.

"Candy?" Buu asked.

"You bet ya!" replied Spike.

"Chocolate?" asked Buu again.

"Buu, it is the home of chocolate," said Spike.

"How about cake?" Buu began to get excited.

"All kinds!" said Spike. "Cakes, muffins, cupcakes, you name it! Hell, even some of Applejack's stuff makes it there!"

"Buu like Sugarcube Corner!" Buu exclaimed excitedly.

Zackary suddenly realised that there were now three more fish carcasses in front of him. He didn't even remember reaching for any. He looked around and saw that Pan and Bulla were in a similar situation, and the villagers and changelings around them were giving them dumbfounded looks.

"You know, Master Goku has a similar appetite," Uub said. "I get Pan, you're his grandaughter. And Bulla is Vegeta's Daughter. How about you, Zack? Are you a... you know..."

"Am I a... what?" Zackary asked, scratching his head.

Bulla suddenly made a squeaking noise and pointed at Zackary before swallowing what's in her mouth. "I don't know if my mom was able to tell you this before the disaster, but you're part Saiyan, Zack."

"I'm part... What's a Saiyan?" Zackary asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You know those Earth Guard guys with the tails and the armor?" Bulla replied. "Their Saiyans. They're basically a displaced warrior race that used to conquer Planets. After their homeworld got destroyed, they just kind of, settled in different parts of the galaxy. They only arrived on Earth recently and established the Earth Guard."

Zackary vaguely remembered seeing strange men with brown tails and alien-like armour patrolling or standing guard in front of important buildings. He presumed that these men were who Bulla was talking about. However, a question about it all lingered in his mind.

"But who in my family is a Saiyan?" Zackary asked. "I'm pretty sure I'd know if one of my parents was an alien."

"Oh, I think some pony named 'Moondancer' was able to trace you're mom's lineage from the Philippines right through Asia and Europe and straight to this place that used to be called 'Camelot'," said Bulla. "At least, that's what my mom said anyway."

"Wait, Moondancer's here?" Twilight said excitedly. "No wonder she disappeared after our reunion. She must have become a really gifted pony for Princess Celestia to choose her!"

"Hold on," Pan interrupted. "That would mean that my Grandpa wasn't the first Saiyan on Earth after all."

Bulla nodded before replying. "My mom said that based one Moondancer's research, they were able to trace Zackary's ancestry to a Saiyan named 'Parzli' on his mom's side. Apparently, he was knighted by King Arthur himself soon after landing, for some reason, and became one of the Knights of the Round Table."

"Wow, I'm descended from a knight _and_ a Saiyan?" said Zackary. "My ancestors must be pretty well travelled to end up in the Phillipines."

"Oh, yeah, I think their appearance there predated the Spanish arrival by like, a hundred years, I think?"

Zackary took a moment to mentally digest that. All this could possibly explain how he was able to sit up from his death bed and his apparent sudden affinity for martial arts. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"If your mum knows all of this about me," he said. "Is your mum Bulma Briefs?"

Bulla nodded. "She owns and runs Capsule Corp.," she said. "I got to see your DNA strand too, when it reached the medical department."

The conversation suddenly changed course when Uub turned his attention back to Twilight.

"So Twilight, who else is waiting for you back home?" Uub asked.

Twilight put a hoof on her chin before replying. "Well, I suppose there's one element that I haven't mentioned, yet. Rainbow Dash, the element of Loyalty. She's an athlete, and a major show-off. She prides herself on being the 'fastest flyer in Equestria', and can get pretty intense about it if anyone were to challenge that, or her pride."

"Ugh, sounds like my dad," Bulla groaned.

"But," Twilight quickly followed up. "She's the most dependable and loyal friend anypony could ask for. And hopefully, every Earthling, once you get to meet them."

"I'm sure that we will get to meet them soon," Zackary said. "But first we need to find the rest of these Dragon Balls, and fix whatever has happened to the Earth."

There was quiet for a little while, giving Zackary a moment to think about the coming journey. Could there be more of those toad things like Haze Shenron? What did Haze Shenron mean when he said that he was brought into existence with a wish? His train of thought was interrupted when Twilight finally spoke up again.

"Enough about me," she said happily. "What about you guys? How did you all learn to fly with your ki?"

"Buu born knowing how," Buu replied with a cheeky grin. "Buu don't remember not knowing how."

"Really, Buu?" Twilight asked. "You don't ever remember not knowing how to fly?"

"Buu isn't like other Earthlings, as you could probably tell," Pan explained. "According to my dad, he just appeared thousands of years ago and was sealed up in the Earth until a space wizard woke him up again."

"Oh, I see..." said Twilight with a cocked eyebrow. Her demeanour changed when she spoke to Pan. "How about you, Pan?"

"Well, my dad's a university Professor in East City," said Pan. "So I didn't get to train with him a lot, and mom doesn't really do that anymore, so I had most of my training from my Grandpa, Goku, whenever he visits."

"You mentioned that he's one of these saiyans too, right?" Spike asked her.

Pan nodded as she replied. "One of the greatest. He'd saved the Earth and the galaxy multiple times before I was even born, and he's lived here on Earth far longer than any of the Saiyans on the Earth Guard."

"He sound's like a great hero," Twilight said. "I'd like to meet him too!"

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," Bulla chimed in. "He spends most of his time on another world with my dad training these days."

"So your father taught you to fly, Bulla?" Twilight asked. "You said that Rainbow Dash sounds like him earlier."

"In that they're both full of delicate pride," said Bulla. "But, I guess that comes with the territory of being the Prince of all Saiyans."

Twilight gasped before asking, "Your father's a Prince? A prince of the Saiyans?"

" _The_ Prince of the Saiyans," Bulla replied. "He's very particular about that. He's probably the only saiyan in existence who could keep up with Goku in a fight."

"And yet he's always a couple of steps behind," Uub laughed.

Bulla shot him an annoyed look before replying. "Hey! Give him time."

"So how about you, Uub?" Twilight asked. "Who taught you how to fly?"

"Actually it was Pan's Grandfather, Goku, who taught me as well," Uub replied. "I was competing in the World Martial Arts Tournament for prize money that I could us to help get my village out of poverty. I ended up facing off with him in the very first round."

"Wait, this was _before_ you learned how to fly?" Spike asked. "And you were fighting this Goku guy?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Marron said. "You put up quite a fight, too, Uub. That's why Goku started training you."

Uub nodded as he continued. "He actually moved in with me in my village to train me initially, with the occasional visit to his family every now and again. Pretty soon, though, were were using the Hyperbolic Time Chamber as well."

"Hyperbolic Time Chamber?" Twilight asked.

"Basically, its a room that compresses a whole year's worth of time into a single day," Uub explained. "There's more to it than that, obviously, but it's the kind of thing you have to experience yourself."

 _I certainly could've used a room like that,_ Zackary thought to himself, as his mind wondered back to his time in hospital.

"Ok, your turn, Marron," Twilight said.

"I'm like Bulla, I learned from my dad, too," Marron said. "Mom would pitch in sometimes, too."

"Is your dad a saiyan like Bulla's?" Spike asked.

Marron waved her arms as she replied. "No, no, he's definitely human. He was Goku's training partner, though, back in the day. Actually, my dad taught me everything he knew, from flying, to fighting, to projecting my ki."

"Sounds like a great teacher, Marron," said Twilight.

Zackary chose this time to speak up again. "Must be," he said. "Some of that must have rubbed off on her too."

"Aw!" Marron gave Zackary a warm smile and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, what do you mean, Zack?" Twilight asked.

Zackary put a hand behind his head as he replied. "I'm actually the greenhorn of this group. I learned how to fly six weeks ago."

"Six weeks?!" Spike and Twilight exclaimed in unison.

Zackary nodded as he continued. "Actually, it was Marron who taught me. I met her on my own journey to find the dragon balls. We were attacked by a bikie gang who also wanted them, but Marron took out their leader which scared the rest of them off."

"That must've been frightening," Twilight said before asking, "What's a bikie?"

"They were just these leather-bound idiots who thought they could used the dragon balls to wish for money," Marron replied. "Zack actually saved my life that day. If he hadn't stepped in when he did, I would've died."

"Ah, shucks, Marron," Zackary said, playfully. "I hardly knew what I was doing, then. You ended up saving my life, too."

"Is that why you trained him, Marron?" asked Twilight?

Marron turned back to Twilight as she replied. "Zack seemed as determined to find those dragon balls and fix the Earth as I was, but he couldn't fly, meaning he wasn't going to be able to keep up with me, meaning we'd be taking longer to find those dragon balls. So I took a little bit of time to teach him how to fly so that he can keep up."

"You could have taken that dragon ball from him and continued that search on your own, though," Spike said.

"True," said Marron. "But we just don't do that, Spike."

"Still," said Twilight. "That is remarkably generous of you, Marron. Taking time that you could've been using looking for the dragon balls yourself, to train Zack in flying."

"Not just flying," Zackary added. "She taught me ki attacks, too. They're still a little new to me, but I think I'll get there." Zackary suddenly remembered something, and he turned back to Marron.

"That reminds me, Marron," he said. "I can feel everyone's energies except for Twilight's, no matter how much I concentrate. Am I doing something wrong or not doing something?"

Marron hummed and closed her eyes for a few moments. When she eventually opened her eyes again, she replied. "Maybe, but I'm not feeling Twilight's energy either."

"I didn't think it was just me," said Spike, throwing his arms in the air.

"Hold on," Twilight said, holding a hoof up. "Can any of you feel my energy?"

The remaining four of the group all shook their heads. Buu suddenly stood up and approached Twilight.

"Buu might know why," he said, as he began to inspect Twilight. He started by tapping the tip of her horn, which Twilight winced at. He walked around her and lifted up one of her wings.

"Uh, Buu," Twilight muttered. "You, uh... You're kinda freaking me out, here."

"Twilight is pony with wings _and_ horn," Buu suddenly exclaimed. "Is Twilight god?"

"What! I'm pretty sure I'm not a god, Buu," Twilight protested. "I mean, I am an Alicorn Princess and all, but-"

"'Alicorn' could mean 'deity', actually," Marron mused. "Us regular mortals can't actually sense the presence of deities. Are there other alicorns in Equestria, Twilight?"

"There are three others," Twilight replied. "There's Princess Celestia, who's duty is to rule over all of Equestria, and to raise the sun each morning. Then, there's her younger sister, Princess Luna, who takes over Celestia's duty during the night, and is in charge of raising the Moon. And lastly, there's Princess Cadence, who rules over the Crystal Empire, and ensures that light and love is magnified and spread all over Equestria."

After a moment silence, Buu piped up again. "They sound like gods to Buu!"

"Yeah, maybe you are a god, Twilight," Bulla added. "You're the 'Princess of Friendship', right? Your duty to spread friendship _did_ take you outside of Equestria – outside your world – to another planet to spread the message of friendship. I mean, you thought you were solving a friendship problem when we first met you."

"Bulla has a point, Twi," Spike said. "Maybe Discord wasn't so crazy when he gave you that Twi-cane."

"That would also explain why none of us can feel your energy, Twilight," Zackary added.

Twilight put a hoof on her chin and looked up to the right. "I'll have to ask Princess Celestia about this," she said.

Zackary then remembered something else. "I do have another question, but more for anyone who knows the most about the dragon balls."

The group went quiet as Zackary continued. "When I was fighting Haze Shenron, right before he threw us into the ocean, he told me that he was born from a wish that someone made to bring their dead father back to life."

There was a few seconds of quiet within their group before Pan asked, "But that's a really good wish. Why would a good wish create something bad?"

"I don't know," Zackary replied. "That's just what he said to me. It was almost as if he expected that to mean something to me."

Twilight put a hoof back on her chin and returned to thinking mode as the rest of the group discussed this.

"I'm serious, guys," Pan said. "Could a pure-hearted wish really create something so evil? Will that happen again when we get to make our wish?"

"I don't think that disgusting toad thing would've had a reason to lie at that point," Uub thought out loud.

"What if it is a lie, though," Bulla asked. "Zackary here has a pretty strong will to live. He might have said that to try and break that from him."

"No, I don't think so," Twilight suddenly said. "Marron, you said that your father was part of a group that defended the dragon balls. Did they ever use them themselves?"

"Yeah," Marron replied. "Every time they needed to bring someone back to life."

"I see," Twilight said.

Zackary reached into his jacket pocket (having retrieved his prized leather jacket from one of the changelings who found it for him) and pulled out the two star ball. He gazed into it, thinking on Pan's words. What could possibly have come from a good wish to create an evil being like Haze Shenron?

"I have a theory," Twilight announced. "All the wishes that Goku and friends used were with good intentions, correct?"

"That's right," Buu squeaked. Twilight nodded before continuing.

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Those wishes brought good energy into the world, but negative energy was also born from this. The positive energy was, obviously, spread right out into the world, but, well," Twilight pointed a hoof at the dragon ball in Zackary's hand. "The negative energy has to go somewhere. Any container will only take so much inside it before it begins to crack and leak."

"Is that was Haze Shenron was?" Uub asked. "Leakage? Cause, you know, that would make sense."

"I don't know anything yet, Uub," Twilight replied, sadly. "I'm sure we'll find out if I'm right or not as we continue our search."

Zackary was still gazing at the dragon ball, though he was listening to what Twilight was saying. _If her theory proves true, it would means that the dragon balls were overused in the past,_ he thought to himself. This thought made the prospect of bringing his father back seem even more distant.

Suddenly, Marron's had covered the dragon ball, interrupting Zackary's thoughts.

"We won't succeed at this if we're constantly worrying about it," she said. "Let's just focus on enjoying this victory celebration with Chrysalis and Uub's Village."

Zackary gave her a weak smile and nodded, suddenly becoming aware that he was hungry again.

"Now," Spike said out loud. "Who wants to hear about how I saved the Crystal Empire from King Sombra..."

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Waves crashed gently upon the shoreline, glistening under a crescent moon. The sound of crunching sand broke through the tranquillity of the night, as a large man carried an unconscious woman in his arms towards a beach house in the distance.

The man's eyes looked straight ahead with determination and sadness, towards the hut that was his childhood home – the safest place he had ever known. He could feel his knees wanting to buckle and give out underneath him. He trudged on regardless, though, determined to reach the beach house, all the while, the events leading up to this moment playing over and over in his head. If he were faster, could he have prevented it?

At long last, he reached the stairs leading up to the front porch. He solemnly dragged himself up the stairs, his flip-flops slapping against his heels with every step. The sensation a fresh tears rolling down his face weighed him down further, but he had to get inside. He shuffled his way to the front door, which, luckily for him, was already open. Being careful not to hurt the woman in his arms further, he stepped in sideways and headed straight for a couch leaning against a flight of stairs leading up to a platform near the roof, where he remembered his own bedroom being.

 _Rose should still be asleep, now,_ the man thought to himself as he laid the woman down on the couch. He looked down with sadness at this woman – no, _his_ woman, his best friend and the love of his life – still in her turquoise-green tank top and blue jeans, not dressed for battle, but for late night donuts! The events of the day once again repeating itself in his head, so much so that he almost didn't notice that someone else had entered the house.

"Steven, there you are," said a woman's voice. "Is Rose still asleep? We need your help back-"

The voice suddenly stopped, and was followed by a gasp, then slow footsteps towards him.

"It killed her, Garnet," the man finally said. "It killed Connie."

"I'm so sorry, Steven," the woman replied. "But that thing is going to kill a lot more people if we don't figure something out soon. I don't think Pearl and Amethyst are going to keep that thing contained. I haven't heard from Lapis or Peridot yet, either."

Steven stood up slowly, fists clenched, and turned to the woman he was talking to, Garnet. Her square afro and triangular shades were a welcome sight, but he could not find any welcome feelings at the moment.

"I wanna get the thing that did this to Connie, Garnet," he said, subconsciously forming a pink shield on his left arm.

"Then come with me back to Beach City, Steven," Garnet urged. "We're gonna need all the help we can get. Don't worry, Rose will be safe."

Steven nodded and slowly followed Garnet out, picking up one last thing on the way; his mother's old sword, a giant pink cutlass in a scabbard, and Connie's weapon of choice, which was leaning against the front door.

 _Don't worry, Connie,_ Steven thought. _I'll get rid of this thing for good. I'll make Beach City safe again for you, and I'll take care of little Rose for both of us_.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. That was a feed, alright, but now we need to find more of those dragon balls!**

 **Pan: Hey, Beach City! Buu and I were here before!**

 **Buu: This goo is pink, just like Buu!**

 **Zackary: Next time, on Dragonball Harmony: Meeting Steven Universe: Attack of the Pink Electric Slime! Don't miss it!**


	19. Attack of the Pink Electric Slime

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting episode of Dragonball Harmony! When we left off, our heroes were taking the time to get to know one another a little better. However, their discussion soon lead them to the terrifying reality that Haze Shenron was only the first of many, and that a wish made on the Dragon Balls was what brought him into existence in the first place.**

 **Meanwhile, a new threat has already taken lives in another part of the world. Will Zackary and his new friends make it there in time to stop further casualties? Find out now...**

 **Meeting Steven Universe: Attack of the Pink Electric Slime!**

After an early wake up, our heroes said their goodbyes and took off into the sky, with the villagers and changelings shouting their well wishes towards them.

"Hey, guys, I got another reading," Bulla suddenly piped up.

"What? Already?" Zackary asked in surprise.

Bulla nodded as she took the lead. "Dead ahead of us."

"Awesome!" Marron exclaimed. "There are so many awesome places in this direction."

"Really," Twilight asked. "Like what?"

"Well, when I was a kid, my parents took me with them to Beach City one time," said Marron. "They had the _best_ doughnut joint at the time. I hope its still there..."

Zackary felt moisture build up in his mouth as he listened to the conversation, reminding him that in their haste to find the dragon balls, they had forgotten to eat breakfast. His stomach followed up this reminder with a loud and painful rumble. This was echoed three times throughout the group, one for Pan, Bulla and Buu.

"Actually, I could really go for some pizza, right about now," Pan announced.

"I dunno, Pan," replied Twilight. "Doughnuts are a pretty compelling argument."

"Buu want food!" Buu cried out.

Zackary couldn't help but agree. "Here, here, Buu. I don't think it matters what we eat there, as long as we get to eat!"

" _And_ that we all eat together, of course," Spike spoke up

"Feel's like we got some work to do, first," Uub said.

Zackary began paying attention to where they were going again and immediately felt what Uub was talking about. There were two high energies ahead of them, one of which was quite frantic.

 _Is there a fight going on out there,_ Zackary thought to himself as they began approaching land.

"Let's hope we don't run into another Haze Shenron," said Twilight as they flew towards the approaching beach.

The eight of them landed on the beach, which was quite clean and almost sparkling. Right in front of them was a cliff face, against which a statue of a giant woman with multiple arms appeared to be carved. A quaint little beach hut seemed to have been built on the cliff face as well, or rather, hanging off the rock wall, right next to the great statue. Above the statue's head, Zackary could vaguely make out a lighthouse.

"Huh," said Marron. "I've never noticed this statue here, before."

"Probably cause you never flew here," said Pan. "Beach City's right behind this cliff. There should be a big hill leading down to it right at the top there, where the lighthouse is."

"Well, the dragonball's definitely here," said Bulla. "Must be somewhere in town."

"Well, we're not gonna find it down here," Spike said, louder than Zachary was expecting, and he winced at the sudden volume change.

"Let's go, then," Zackary said after composing himself. The eight of them took off towards the statue's head. As they travelled, Zackary noticed what appeared to be a washing machine and a line of hanging clothes on one of the statue's hands.

 _Does someone live here,_ he thought to himself. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by what he sensed from the town. One of the two energies he had sensed earlier suddenly dropped. The others must have sensed it to. As they cleared the statue's head and landed on a soft green hill leading down to the town, they all observed the town bellow them, worriedly.

"Is that good or bad for us," Spike asked.

"Well, considering we haven't seen any friendly faces yet, I'm going to go with bad," Twilight replied.

"Buu not feel so good about this," Buu muttered.

"I here, you," Uub agreed. "Whatever's here, it's really doing a number on this place."

"It's gotta be the dragonball," Zackary suddenly exclaimed, clenching his fist. "Whatever monster it's turned into, that's what's responsible."

"Then what are we waiting around here, for," Marron asked rhetorically. "Let's go!"

Zackary nodded, and the eight of them took off down the cliff as fast as they could.

"Hey, there's the Big Donut!" Pan suddenly cried out excitedly.

Zackary looked over to where Pan was pointing and saw a small building with a large doughnut planted in top. That sight alone caused Zackary's stomach to grumble painfully, reminding him that it was empty. He quickly shook himself back into focus and flew straight ahead.

The building that they were approaching was in a small 'L' shape. The group landed in the space between the two sides and surveyed the area. It looked a bit like a car wash, and a sign hanging off the front door saying "It's A Wash!" confirmed that this was indeed what it was. A white van was parked out in another space next to the building with the same logo.

"A car wash, huh," Zackary observed aloud.

"Apparently they guy who runs this place used to be some sort of local rock-star," Marron said. "I think his name was-"

"Hey, you guys," a voice suddenly called from inside the building. All eight of them suddenly turned to a door in the building that suddenly opened. Out stepped a rather round man with a short greying beard and moustache and long hair with a bald patch on top of his head. He ran out toward them in a white singlet, denim shorts, and flip-flops.

"What are you all doing out here?" the man asked them. "Everyone else has already evacuated."

"Evacuated?" Zackary asked. "So everyone is safe from whatever's going on here?"

"Everyone but you guys," the man replied. "You guys saw the pink slime stuff that's been electrocuting everyone, haven't you?"

The man pointed directly up as he said this. Zackary turned his head in that direction and saw a power line running overhead, covered in a gooey pink substance. Sparks of electricity could be seen shooting around it like a miniature lightning storm.

"Ooooh, it's pink like Buu," Buu suddenly exclaimed.

"Don't let that fool ya, buddy," said the man from the carwash. "That pink stuff has already killed a few people today, including my daughter in law!"

"Seriously?" Zackary asked in shock, as he turned to the man with wide eyes.

"Twilight," Spike muttered. "You don't think it's another, Dragon ball monster, do you?"

"It certainly looks that way, Spike," Twilight replied. "And I don't think it's as simple as taking out the trash anymore!"

"Well, on the plus side the Dragon Ball is I town," said Bulla, holding up her dragon radar.

"Let's just look around town, see if there's anyone else who didn't make it out," Zackary decided out loud. He looked around to catch the affirming nods of Marron, Twilight and Uub before turning back to the balding man. "Don't worry, mate, we're here to fix all this."

"Well, my son and a friend of ours are already trying to fight this pink slime thing, but if there's anything you think you can do to help, be my guest," said the man. "One more thing I should mention though: This pink stuff is sucking up all the electricity from the power lines, so, good luck trying to find a wifi spot."

"Not to worry, sir, we have everything we need," said Pan with a thumbs up.

"Although," Zackary thought out loud. "Where do you suppose we should st-"

A sudden rise in energy followed by an explosion in the distance caught everyone's attention. Zackary looked over towards the Big Donut, where he could just see a small figure landing roughly on the ground after having been thrown backwards by some unknown force.

"Never mind," said Zackary after that. "We're going that way."

"Good luck, you guys!" the man from the carwash called out as they all took off in that direction.

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The group flew down the street towards the figure as fast as Zackary could go, until they passed the Big Donut and found themselves on the sands of another beach. In front of them was what Zackary had seen earlier; not a 'small' figure at all, but a man who looked to be a least a head and a half taller than Zackary, with jet-black curly hair and built like a powerlifter, with a slightly chubby gut and large, muscular arms. He wore a pink T-shirt with a yellow star in the middle on top of a white skivvy, blue denim jeans and... thongs? The man was breathing heavily and clutching his chest. Pan was the first to reach his side.

"Are you ok, sir? What happened?" Pan asked him.

"Stay... back..." the man managed to say between breaths. "Little... electric... penguin..."

"A penguin is giving your town this much trouble?" Bulla asked.

"No," gasped Twilight suddenly. "Not a penguin..."

"A dragon!" Spike exclaimed, gripping his head with both hands and gritting his teeth.

"Looks like Twilight and Spike are right," said Zackary. "This dragon ball has turned into a monster t-"

"You summoned the dragon, didn't you?" demanded a voice from behind them. Zackary and the others turned their heads down the beach to see a rather tall woman with her arms folded across her chest. The first thing Zackary noticed about her was her rather... square... hair that seemed to form a frame around her face, covering her ears. Her clothing was coloured in different shades of purple, pink and red, and half a star was showing on her right side. In fact, the woman's skin was purple as well, as if it were meant to match the clothing, rather than the other way around. The woman's hips and legs seemed disproportionately thick compared to her upper body, with thin arms, a slim waist and a proportionately shaped bosom, underneath which her arms were folded.

"We're sorry, Miss Garnet," Pan suddenly spoke. "We thought it was the only way to save the earth."

"Well, you may have accidentally doomed it," the woman, Garnet, replied. "It took the Crystal Gems years to get this under control the first time."

"The... first time?" Spike asked. "You mean this has happened before?"

Garnet nodded before turning back around to where she must have come from. "I'll tell you that story later, though. We have company..."

Zackary looked passed Garnet to see an esplanade running down the beach. It was lined on the right side with a few restaurants and an arcade from what Zackary could see. The powerlines on the left side were all covered with the same pink substance from before. From where he was standing, he could just make out a small, penguin looking creature slowly walking out of the arcade.

The creature turned towards them and started stalking its way to them. As it got closer, Zackary began to make out its colour: red, with a cream coloured belly. As it got closer still, he saw what he was hoping for: a blue sphere with five darker stars on it.

"The five star Dragon Ball!" all eight of them exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, it appears you've found yourself some new friends, Rose Quarts," the penguin-like creature suddenly spoke. "But I've already told you, the humiliation I suffered at your hands all those years ago was one too many! You cannot hope to..." It suddenly stopped as its eyes fell on Zackary. A malicious grin suddenly formed in its... beak... as it approached. It stopped just a few feet from the group. Zackary could hear Buu behind him asking if birds had teeth.

"I know you lot," the creature said, pointing right at Zackary's nose. "You defeated Haze Shenron. I hope you're not feeling confident with that win, because Haze is quite easily the weakest of all the Shadow Dragons!"

Zackary felt Twilight trot past him to approach the small penguin. "Well, that just makes you number two," she replied defiantly.

The little red penguin let out a fast, high pitched cackle before responding. "You are quite presumptuous, my little pony. I think you'll find that I, Rage Shenron, am the mightiest of all seven Shadow Dragons!"

 _Does he even come up to my knee?_ Zackary asked himself as Rage said this. This little demon was in fact, the size of a fairy penguin. Uub soon voiced Zackary's thoughts.

"Do you even come up to my knee?" he said.

"Don't underestimate him," Garnet warned. "Steven already made that mistake."

"Listen to your permafusion friend, friends," Rage laughed. "I'm sure you've noticed the pink slime on everything electric already. This alone should make what you are up against obvious! I can suck up the electricity of this entire planet! I was barely halfway through this pathetic town when I poofed four Crystal Gems earlier!"

"We are going to make you pay for that," the man on the ground grunted as he sat back up. "You're gonna pay for killing Connie, too!"

"Actually, you'll be joining your precious wife in the otherworld, along with you baby girl, Rose," Rage Shenron retorted. "All I need is to suck up the last of this town's electricity reserves, which I should be done with right about..."

Zackary suddenly noticed a chord around the Shadow Dragon's neck. Attached to it was a small circular object with numbers changing at high speeds. Rage picked this up in his hand and turned it to face himself.

 _A stopwatch?_ Zackary asked in his head. After a while, Rage clicked a button on the side of the device, before turning back to the group with an insidious grin.

"...Now," he finished, before leaping up in the air and right into the middle of town. The man Pan was tending to suddenly leapt to his feet and took off after the Shadow Dragon.

"Come back here!" he called out to him. "You leave my daughter out of this!"

"After him," Zackary called out to his friends as he took to the air. The others took off with him, With Twilight and Marron on either side. They followed Rage all the way to a park of some kind. Greenery and trees surrounded concrete path which lead down to a statue of what appeared to be a sailor. Rage Shenron landed just in front of this effigy and turned to face his pursuers once more. The man who Rage kept on calling Rose Quarts landed first, followed closely by Zackary and his friends. Rage Shenron held his arms out to either side of his body.

"You know' I'd normally open with using my electric slime on you lot like I did with Rose Quarts here," the Shadow Dragon said. "But given these odds I think this would be a unique opportunity to skip right over to the main event! I call upon you, Electric Slime!"

Zackary took a step towards the little penguin, but was suddenly dragged downwards as a blob of the pink slime passed overhead. Zackary looked up and saw the pink slime flying towards them from all directions. Zackary turned back to Rage Shenron and saw that the slime was being drawn to him. The slime attached itself to Rage's body, engulfing him in his own slime. As more of it threw themselves at their apparent master, the slime pile grew, and grew, until it was as tall as one of the nearby apartment buildings. Zackary looked up in awe as this slime pile began to take shape. He soon found himself staring at a giant Rage Shenron, complete with the colour scheme, albeit a shade or two lighter.

"Now, by the complete look of disbelief on your face, I'd say that you're the greenhorn of this little group," Rage voice echoed throughout the park, though his mouth did not move, as he directed his attention to Zackary. Indeed, Zackary's jaw was on the floor. None of the training he had with Marron could've prepared him for such a transformation.

"So," Rage continued. "You will be the first one to die!" The giant Shadow dragon pointed two fingers in Zackary's direction. It was then that Zackary remembered something.

"Hey," he suddenly called out. "Haze Shenron told me about his origins before he tried to kill me. I think you owe me as much, too."

"Oh really," Rage challenged, lowering his hands. "I _owe_ you as much, do I? Well if you insist, why don't you all take a seat while old Rage Shenron gives you a history lesson!"

"Oh, I love history!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hooves as she parked her flank on the concrete.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," Spike muttered sarcastically.

"Now, a long time ago, while you were still a twinkle in your daddy's eye, two Saiyans named Vegeta and Nappa came to Earth with... malicious intent..."

"Vegeta? Bulla, that's your dad!" Zackary said, turning to Bulla. Bulla gasped at this and put a hand over her mouth. Rage turned his attention to Bulla.

"That's right my little blue haired friend, your daddy was going to stage an attack on this planet that he now calls home Ahahahahahahahaha!" Rage cackled with glee before continuing. "The only person strong enough to stop these wicked saiyans from destroying all of humanity was dead! But that didn't stop the people of Earth. They were so desperate in fact, that they used the dragon balls to bring this person back to life."

"You're talking about grandpa Goku, aren't you?" Pan said.

"That's right, little girl, the person who was wished back to stop Vegeta and Nappa was non other than Son Goku himself!"

"I think I see where this is going," Twilight spoke up. "You're the side effect of that wish, aren't you?"

"Hahahahahahaha! You're pony's a smart one, I see. You are correct, little pony. The side effect of overusing the dragon balls is the release of negative energy. In other words, me! Aaaaahahahahahaha!"

"So that's what you shadow dragons are, huh?" the man called Rose Quarts asked. "Your just the bi products of someone else's mistakes?"

"More or less," Rage replied with a shrug. "Now, time for the Greenhorn here to die," he pointed his fingers back at Zackary. "Dragon Thunder Flash!"

Zackary didn't even see the light moving before it was upon him. He felt a sharp and extremely painful jolt run right through his body before he was thrown backwards onto the road. He didn't feel the impact of the road, however, as his whole body was numb from the attack. He forced himself to turn back to the fight and saw the one named Rose charging Rage Shenron.

"Bigger body means a bigger target!" He called out as he wound back a punch.

"Steven, wait!" Garnet called out. "That won't-"

The man buried a fist into Rage, as if he were punching jelly. He looked up at Rage's face in shock horror, as the Shadow Dragon cackled loudly.

"What's the matter, Rose?" Rage sneered. "Did I trigger you?"

As if on queue, the man's body suddenly lit up and started convulsing. After a few seconds, he too was sent back to the road.

"Everyone stand back!" Uub suddenly cried out. Zackary looked up to see Uub in stance for a Kamehameha wave.

"If fists won't do it, then ki will," Uub added. "Ka... me... ha... me...HA!"

The attack hit Rage right in the naval, and forced him to double over. To Zackary's dismay, though, after a few moments, Rage began to right himself up, with Uub's attack still burning in his body. He turned back to Zackary was a malicious grin.

"Say goodbye to your greenhorn friend!" He laughed as he suddenly thrust his gut forward, shooting Uub's attack right at Zackary. He tried to stand up, but he knew that he was moving to slowly to stop that attack. Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of him, that of a woman with a square afro and disproportionately large...

"Garnet!" he called out. The ki blast found it's mark right in Garnet's chest, exploding on impact. After the smoke cleared, Garnet began to fall backwards towards Zackary. She suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving behind two gems, one a ruby, the other a sapphire. They landed on the ground with a quiet tinking.

Rage turned back to the man, now named Steven. "Looks like it's just you now, Rose. Ahahahahahahahahaha!"

Zackary took this opportunity to hop back onto his feet. He looked down at his fist, then opened up and cupped his hand like he would when using a palm strike.

 _If a fist or a ki blast will simply sink into his control, then maybe we need an attack with a wider surface area,_ he thought to himself. He looked up to his friends, who seemed to know what he was thinking, as they each nodded in understanding.

"Now _you_ all stand back," Buu suddenly announced. "Buu got this."

Buu put his thumb in his mouth and started blowing. As he did, his fist started to grow, larger and larger, until it was the size of Rage. Buu put it in front of a now worried Rage Shenron.

"Buu bitchslap you!" But announced before swinging his huge open hand right at Rage Shenron. The attack collided with incredible force, flattening Rage's beak and sending him airborne across town. Satisfied that his work was done, Buu's hand shrunk back down to normal.

"Well, that's one way to do it," said a flabbergasted Steven. "Good work, pink, gum-man."

"Yeah! Way to go, Buu!" Spike hollerred out, followed by a cheer from Twilight. Soon everyone, including Zackary, was shouting their congratulations to Buu, who simply stood with his hands on his hips. Suddenly, though, a familiar pink slime being began making its way back to them.

Rage landed on the ground that he was on previously and fell on his hands an knees, breathing heavily. Zackary noticed that these weren't breathes of exhaustion, but rather relieve, as if he had narrowly avoided something terrible to him. Eventually, after noticing the stunned looks on everyone's faces, Rage righted himself and shook his head around a few times before talking.

"That was a pretty neat try of your chewing gum friend's. I must admit that I got scared for a moment there." He said with confidence. "But it seems you lot are getting smarter, so I'll just have to make things more interesting for you! Here goes..."

Suddenly, pink tentacles began protruding from Rage's back and shoulders. The began to spread out and attach themselves to anything that seemed electric. Some of them tethered themselves to the powerlines around town, others seeped through cracks in the ground. The rest of them kept fanning out of town, over the beaches and beyond. The ones that were tethered to things began glowing and sparking with electricity. As more of the tentacles started glowing, Rage's body began to grow...

And grow...

His bottom half had reverted back to its pink slim state, and was now covering buildings as Rage expanded. Zackary looked on with mouth agape as Rage's naval got bigger and closer.

"Guys, fall back!" He heard Marron call out.

This forced Zackary out of his stupor. He shook his head a few times and took off with the rest of his friends. He rejoined them and mentally took a head count. Marron, Uub, Buu, Pan, Bulla, Twilight and Spike, who was carrying Steven. Everyone had made it away. But Rage was still expanding towards them, and finding a safe distance away to land was becoming increasingly difficult.

"This guy's gonna suck up all the energy in Beach City!" Steven groaned loudly.

"Not just Beach City, Rose," Rage responded. "The entire planet! All the electricity of every country, city and town on this Earth is all mine! Aaaahahahahahahahahaha!"

By the time the group stopped they were hovering over the esplanade again. Twilight shot a bolt of energy from her horn at one of the tentacles. It split the tentacle in two, but it repaired itself soon after.

"Well, there's no stopping it with force," She said. "I guess we could... negotiate with him?"

"I think it's a bit late for that," Uub replied.

"Well, we could- DODGE!" Steven was in the midst of a suggestion before noticing a giant pink tentacle heading straight for Spike. Instinctively, Spike drifted to the side and watch the tentacle fly past.

"What are we going to do?" Pan asked, exasperated.

"Let's head back to Chrysalis," Zackary called out to his friends. "I think we're going to need the Hive."

"Good idea, Zack," said Twilight. All of them made ready to head back to Uub's home, when suddenly, Zackary's vision was blurred by pink. He felt a soft, slimy substance pressing against his body, and that's when he realised that he had been caught. He turned around to Rage Shenron and could hardly believe what he was seeing...

Rage had buried half the town in his grotesque body. Tentacles jutted out from his body in all directions, most of them disappearing over the horizon. More of the giant ones were making their way over to his friends, who were to busy trying to help Zackary to notice. One by one, each of them got caught by the slime tentacles. As Zackary looked around, however, he suddenly saw that one of his friends managed to evade Rage Shenron.

Bulla.

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Bulla put her hands on her head as she looked to each of her friends in their own pink slim bubble. _How am I gonna get them out of this by myself?_ She asked herself. She suddenly noticed a muffled voice calling her. It was Zack's. She turned to him and listened.

"Bulla, you have the dragon radar," he said. "Just get out of here! Find the other Dragon Balls! Please, for my family..."

 _What,_ Bulla thought. _Don't be an idiot! I'm not-_

Her train of thought was interrupted by more muffled voices, all of them urging her to go. She turned to each of her friends, then back to Rage Shenron, who was cackling away. Another tentacle protruded from Rage, only this one had the small Rage Shenron inside.

Tears began to pour down her face as she gritted her teeth angrily, and clenched her fists tightly.

"What do I do?" she thought out loud, as she desperately looked around for a solution.

 **Bulla: Hi guys, it's Bulla! It looks like we're in a bit of a pickle, now.**

 **Rage Shenron: Don't even think about trying to save your friends! There's nothing you can do for them now!**

 **Bulla: Just you wait, Rage Shenron! I'll find a way to beat you!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: Bulla's Tough Decision: Save Her Friends, or Save the World! Don't miss it!**


	20. Bulla's Tough Desicion

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting chapter of Dragonball Harmony! When we left off, our heroes took off from Uub's village and headed straight for the next Dragon Ball. Their journey took them all the way to Beach City, where Zackary and his friends discover pink slime over everything electrical, including the powerlines. They then met up with two apparent defenders of Beach City, who were doing battle with the culprit of this mysterious plague; another Shadow Dragon named Rage Shenron. Though small in size, Rage soon proved dangerous to underestimate, as he very quickly overpowered all of our heroes save one: Bulla. Can Bulla find a way to save her friends for this wretched fiend? Find out, now!**

 **Bulla's Tough Decision: Save her Friends, or Save the World?**

Dende looked over the edge of his lookout worriedly. The dark clouds were still looming overhead, and thunder still echoed around him. His focus, however, was on Beach City.

"It doesn't look great, does it?" he suddenly heard Mr. Popo's voice behind him.

Dende shook his head in response. "Princess Twilight herself has been caught by one of the evil Shenron incarnates."

"Where's Goku when you need him?" Mr. Popo complained. "I tried to tell him we needed his involvement in this fight."

" _Have a little faith, guys,"_ A familiar voice suddenly rang in Dende's head. He turned his gaze up to the blackened sky.

"K... King Kai?" he asked.

" _Look, if there's one thing I've learned from my time putting up with Goku, it's to have some faith in our heroes,_ " King Kai continued. " _Twilight being summoned here by her magic cutie-mark table thing has a lot to do with the solution. And if what I think is going to happen will happen, then the Earth will be in good hands when this is all over._ "

Dende gripped onto his staff as he took this all in. _They're all just kids, but I hope you're right, King Kai,_ he thought to himself. He was suddenly quite shocked when he received a response from King Kai.

" _Y... You know I'm still here, right?_ "

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Tears cascaded down Bulla's face as she tried to decide what to do. She had the dragon radar, so she could leave them to find the other dragon balls. At the same time, though, she couldn't just leave her friends to die at he hands of Rage Shenron. She clenched her fists so tight they shook as she wrestled with this dilema.

"So, you're just going to sit there and watch, are you?" Rage asked. "Good, because this party's about to kick of right now..."

With that, streams of electricity began sparking their way down the slime tubes with her friends trapped within. All of them suddenly began shaking and convulsing in agony as the electricity ran through their bodies. Bulla brought her hands to her mouth and began to sob and gasp. She could almost feel their pain as she watched them endure it, all the while Rage Shenron was cackling loudly.

"I know what you're thinking, girl," Rage continued. "What kind of animal makes people watch their friends die a slow and painful death. I'll tell you: Dragons! Ahahahahahahahaha!"

Bulla suddenly let out a wild scream and began showering Rage Shenron in energy blasts. In her rage, she couldn't see that they were just being absorbed into Rage Shenron's slime body until they were blasting right back at her. She went from shooting off energy blasts to dodging them. When it finally stopped, she simply looked down at her friends in despair.

"Shall I tell you what happens when one is electrocuted to death?" Rage taunted further. "The electricity meets resistance in the form of flesh, the muscles of the extremities, torso, and face, all of which will seize up upon contact, making breathing completely impossible. It also passes through the brain, causing neurological damage, loss of conciousness and, of course, death!" Rage continued to cackle as he continued. "If that doesn't sound like a good way to go to you, I suggest you do what your friends told you to do earlier."

Bulla looked down to the dragon radar hanging off her belt. She did have the chance to find the other dragon ball with her friends' sacrifice, or even find her father, Trunks, and even Goku for help.

But it would mean letter her friends die...

She took the radar in her hand and clenched her eyes shut as another wave of tears poured from under her eyelids. It was an impossible choice. The world, or the friends who she had started to become close to.

The world...

Or her friends...

Bulla let out another scream and threw open her eyes, when she saw something on the other side of town that suddenly lifted her spirits. Something that would ultimately make the decision for her.

 _Just hold on, guys! Hold on as long as you can,_ Bulla said in her mind, before flying off in the direction of what she saw.

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Even Zackary's thoughts were out of his control. He could get no oxygen into his body, as breathing was simply impossible, and his vision had began blacking in and out. He had to stay alive, however. He fought with everything he had to keep himself concious. There was no way he was giving this oversized slime penguin the satisfaction. Suddenly, the electricity stopped.

Zackary took in big gulps of whatever little air there was in his little slime bubble, and watched a lone figure shrinking off into the distance. With what little thought control he was able to muster, Zackary concluded that this must have been Bulla, doing what he wanted her to do.

"Well, well, well," he suddenly heard Rage say. "We have a resilient one here, I see."

Zackary looked around in panic to his friends in their own isolated slime bubbles, and saw that he was the only one concious. Even Buu was out for the count. With what little strength he had, he tried to push outwards against the walls of his bubble, prompting a laugh from Rage Shenron.

"Fool, boy," he said. "I would preserve my strength if I were you, cause you're going for round two! AAAhahahahahahahahahaha!"

Before he could prepare himself, his entire body seized up once more, as electricity painfully shot through his body. Black spots began appearing in his vision, but he had to stay alive! There was nothing else for it. It felt like an eternity in this state, and started feeling himself falling in and out of conciousness. Eventually, however, the electrocution stopped.

Zackary breathed heavily, closing his eyes and taking in as much air as he had available to him. He opened his eyes again and they instantly met with that of the little Rage Shenron.

"Ok, now you're starting to scare me," Rage said with concern. "Just die already!"

Once again, electricity immobilised Zackary, constricting his breathing and seizing up every muscle in his body. This time his vision went completely blank. He suddenly became aware of a sharp pain right in the middle of his chest. After another long session of electrocution, Rage relented. Zackary fell limp, his eyes closed.

 _Must... stay..._ Zackary could finish the thought, but he did manage to open one eye slowly, then the other. He felt numb right through his body, but he still tried to move it forward in the bubble. He struggled to move even his eyelids, but he eventually met Rage Shenron's gaze once again. The shadow dragon had become especially flustered.

"I don't understand," Rage muttered. "All of your friends are stronger than you and they are all unconscious! You're the only one taking my electricity at this point, WHY are you still awake!?"

 _Bitch... I beat an enemy... you couldn't... hope to be... half as strong as..._ Zackary wanted to say out loud, but he found that his mouth wouldn't respond to him. He gritted his teeth and defiantly clenched his fists.

"You know what, fine," Rage said, exasperated. "I'll just leave it on until I can't sense your energy anymore! I'll do it with all of-"

"Hey, Rage Shenron!" a familiar voice called from above.

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Bulla waited for Rage to look up at her, which he did, and his eyes widened in horror at what she was carrying over her head: A gigantic, metal Beach City water tank.

With a smirk, she let go with one hand before continuing. "You need a bath!" With that, she used her free hand to punch a hole in the bottom of the tank. She let the water rush over her and down onto Rage Shenron. The water making contact with Rage's slime body had an immediate effect, as it started to melt away.

"NNNNOOOOOOO!"Rage cried out as his giant slime body dissolved under the water. When the tank emptied, Bulla threw the water tank away and watched as the water ran down the slime pile. She smiled as the slime bubbles dropped to the ground before splitting open. Almost all of her friends were unconscious, but she could still feel their energies (except Twilight's), which meant that they were still alive. She saw Zack breathing heavily, which told her that he was still concious.

 _If only there was someone strong enough to help me take them to-_ Bulla pondered before seeing two flashes on the ground. She landed on the ground where she saw them, and found a ruby and a sapphire. She suddenly remembered what happened to that Garnet woman that was helping them.

Bulla gingerly picked up the two gems and looked at them next to each other. Suddenly, white light started emanating from them and taking shapes. It seemed as if there were to be two humanoid figures, until the lights made contact with one another. The shapes suddenly changed into one, again, humanoid, with large hips to an impossibly slim waist, thin arms and a large square head. As the light dimmed, Bulla found herself holding the hands of this figure. She looked up at a familiar face inside a square afro, looking back down at her with three eyes, one red, one blue, and the middle one violet. A warm smile crossed this woman's lips.

 _Garnet has three eyes,_ Bulla observed. _Just like Tien Shinhan._

"Bulla," said Garnet. "Thank you."

Bulla smiled back at Garnet, before the latter turned to the scene of the melting slime with a serious look. The slime was completely gone, and all that was left was the little penguin like Dragon himself, lying face up in a puddle.

"I'll take care of this," Garnet said, letting go of Bulla's hands and marching towards a now weakened Rage Shenron.

"Wait..." Rage tried to speak. "Spare me. I'll give you the-"

That was the last thing he said. Without a moment's hesitation, Garnet lifted one fist over her head. The fist suddenly lit up, and when the light died down, it was at least the size of her head, as if she were wearing a giant gauntlet. She slammed her fist into Rage Shenron's face, causing him to explode into a puff of blue smoke. The dragon ball that was in his gut flew upwards a short distance. Garnets hand returned to normal before she caught it.

Bulla walked up to Garnet's side. Garnet turned to her and held out a fixed dragon ball.

"I think you'll need this," she said.

"Thanks," said Bulla as she took the dragon ball. She then turned to her friends. Only Zack was concious. Marron, Pan, Uub, Buu, Twilight, Spike and Steven were all out cold.

"Looks like we're using up our senzu beans," Pan said glumly.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Garnet chuckled.

Bulla turned to Garnet as she responded. "But Miss Garnet, we need to give senzus to eight people."

"Or, you could give one senzu to Steven, and let him look after the rest." Garnet suggested.

"But how's he gonna help the others?" Bulla protested.

Garnet smiled as she replied. "Just trust me, Bulla."

Bulla sighed as she turned to Marron's unconscious body, in particular, the pouch on her sash.

 _Well, here goes,_ she thought, as she made her way over the pick up the senzu beans.

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Zackary suddenly felt something soft and wet rest on his forhead. His energy suddenly shot up as he felt this, and all the numbness he felt in his body fell away. He opened his eyes to see Steven kneeling next to him, with a hand on Zackary's forhead.

"Hehe, welcome back, buddy," said Steven, removing his hand.

Zackary quickly sat up and looked around. The ground around them was wet, and there were puddles of water all around the place. His friends were still unconscious.

"I'm gonna go help the others," Steven said, standing up and making his way over to Marron and Uub.

Zackary watched as Steven positioned himself between Marron and Uub. Steven then spat in each hand before placing his spit covered hands on Uub's and Marron's foreheads. Zackary instinctively began wiping his own forehead with his jacket sleeve.

He quickly stood up, but the moment he got to his feet, he felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his neck and head. A blue head of hair rested itself on Zackary's shoulder, letting him know exactly who it was.

"Bulla," he said. "Why didn't you leave? I thought you were going to find the other-"

"Don't be stupid," Bulla interrupted him before pulling away from the hug. "We're doing this together or not at all!"

Zackary smiled and gave her a nod. "Well, thank you, Bulla, for sticking by us," he said.

Zackary and Bulla let go of each other and were soon joined by Marron, Uub, Pan, Twilight, Spike, Garnet and Steven.

"Well, that's another threat to Beach City taken care of," Steven sighed. "At least Connie didn't die in vain."

"I'll go tell Greg the good news," Garnet said, before turning to Zackary. "You lot aught to consider joining us for a bite before heading off in search of the other dragon balls."

Zackary's stomach immediately rumbled angrily, reminding him that he _still_ hadn't eaten.

"Yeah," Zackary replied. "And you owe us a story about the Shadow Dragons."

Garnet nodded before heading off down the esplanade towards the Big Donut.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. Doesn't look like our fight's gonna get any easier.**

 **Spike: Garnet, you said something about a 'first time'?**

 **Garnet: That's right. Sit still and listen**

 **Peridot: I'm just glad you folks dealt with that little CLOD!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragonball Harmony: History of the Shadow Dragons Revealed! Don't miss it!**


	21. History of the Shadow Dragons Revealed!

**Welcome back, readers to another exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Harmony! When we left off, Bulla faced a heart wrenching crisis. Zackary showed enormous resilience to Rage Shenron's attacks, but would've ultimately been killed, had it not been for Bulla spotting his and the others' salvation in the distance, in the form of a water tank. Because of his apparent weakness to water, Rage's slimy armour melted away, leaving him open for Garnet to finish him off. Now, with the danger passed, their energy restored, and another Dragon Ball in their possession, our heroes are ready to continue their quest. But first, Garnet has something to tell them about what they're up against. Do they stand a chance, or are Zackary, Marron, Bulla, Uub, Pan, Buu, Twilight and Spike in over their heads? Find out now...**

 **History of the Shadow Dragons Revealed!**

"Holy crap, you guys," Pan gasped excitedly. "The ketchup is _in_ the fries!"

Zackary looked over at the huge plate of fries in amazement after chomping down on his fifth 'pizza on a bagel', courtesy of Steven, Garnet, and some other Gems he hadn't seen before: A slender figured Pearl, a short, thick-built Amethyst, a Peridot wearing some sort of half-face spectacle...thing, and another gem that was blue all over, including her dress, called Lapis Lazuli. Steven made a point of introducing everyone before they all got settled at the beach.

"My, you weren't kidding when you said make lots, Garnet," Pearl said. "I thought we'd have leftovers, but seeing that young man, the two girls and that... Majin Buu... eat..."

Peridot, who had been hiding behind her knees at the table, spoke up. "I can't believe I'm sitting opposite _the_ Majin Buu! And here I was thinking that the Cluster was the only world destroying entity hiding in this planet-"

"Peridot, relax," Garnet soothed. "Majin Buu's on our side. He helped us to defeat Rage Shenron."

"You guys still owe us an explanation about these 'Shadow Dragons', Garnet," said Lapis Lazuli.

"Ugh, those punks again?" Amethyst complained. "Like we didn't teach them enough of a lesson last time?"

"Someone else must've been overusing the Dragon balls," Pearl said. "It's the only thing that would give these Shadow Dragons life again. I wonder who, though..."

"Oh, I think we know already," Garnet said, turning her gaze to the group who were all stuffing their faces. " _Their_ predecessors."

Zackary finished off his fill with one last handful of ketchup filled fries and contently patted his tummy.

"Whoo, that really hit the spot!" Zackary said, grinning ear to ear. "Thanks heaps, guys!"

"Hehe... don't mention it," stammered Steven, who began scratching his head as he took in the sight.

Zackary looked around at their long outdoor table and saw that they had finished the whole thing. Every plate there was empty, including Twilight's. They all took a breath as they digested their meal. Then, Spike spoke up.

"So, Garnet, you were telling us about these Shadow Dragons?" he asked.

Garnet nodded and turned to Zackary and his friends. "You need to know what you're up against..."

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 _The first Gems landed on Earth more than 6,000 years ago, under the rule of Pink Diamond. While establishing a colony on Earth, these Gems make many discoveries, including the existence of organic life on Earth, and the Dragon Balls. There were very few humans in that age who the gems could communicate effectively with, but all the ones they could warned them not to abuse the power of the Dragon Balls._

 _Then, a few hundred years later, Rose Quarts rebelled against Pink Diamond, in the Gem War, which took many lives, human and Gem alike. Rose didn't want the humans to suffer for our conflicts, so we used the Dragon Balls each year to bring back all the humans who lost their lives in the Gem War. If we only knew what that would cost us, we would've never tried such a thing._

 _After Pink Diamond was shattered, the Homeworld Gems retreated from Earth, giving the Crystal Gems time to wish back more humans. But when we gathered them all, we found them damaged, and our attempt at summoning Shenron was met only with the arrival of that evil counterpart of his, who sent the Dragon Balls away to form the Shadow Dragons. As soon as one war ended, another began..._

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Zackary could only sit in silence as Garnet told her story. He processed each and every word in his brain as they left her mouth. It sounded as if Twilight's theory was right after all: that overusing the Dragon Balls, irrespective of the nature of each wish, had dire consequences.

"You must understand," Garnet continued. "That every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We used the Dragon Balls to give back lives to those who's lives were stolen from them unfairly, thus bringing positive energy into the world. But negative energy was also born from these wishes, and this negative energy was contained within the Dragon Balls. Each wish we made introduced more and more of these two energies into the world."

"Until eventually, the Dragon Balls cracked," Twilight finished. "Just like what's happening now."

"Wait, why would the Kami before Dende create the Dragon Balls in the first place, if they have the potential to do such harm?" Spike asked angrily. "Sounds like he was just playing with the Earthlings to me."

"No, Spike," Twilight corrected. "Kami's intention wasn't to for the inhabitants of Earth to make wishes willy-nilly. He didn't make the Dragon Balls for the ease of their use, but in the hopes that no one would have to use them at all!"

"Now you're beginning to understand, Twilight," Garnet replied. "Just like we should've understood before even laying a hand on those Dragon Balls. You see, the Shadow Dragons represent the worst aspects of mortal-kind. Greed, toxicity, apathy, cruelty, deceit. These aspects of yourselves are what you are truly facing when fighting the Shadow Dragons, and in fact, when you make your search for the Dragon Balls in the first place."

"So the wishes that my Grandpa and others made with the Dragon Balls somehow gave birth to these monsters?" Pan asked shakily.

Garnet nodded in response. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Pan, but you and your friends are cleaning up after your grandfather, here."

Zackary looked over at Pan, who was beginning to tear up. Uub wrapped a comforting arm around her, and she leaned back into his shoulder. Just as Bulla was about to turn to Pan as if to say something, Steven spoke up.

"Before you guys get into who did what to cause this, let's all just be clear: Nobody is blaming anyone for anything. The fact is, this happened, and we have to deal with it now. Getting all angry and disappointed at Pan's Grandpa is only gonna make things worse."

Zackary let out a breath that he had been subconsciously holding this whole time. He had a fair idea of what Bulla was going to come out and say. "He's right. We can't loose our heads, guys. What matters now is that we find the rest of the Dragon Balls and make the world right again, just like we planned."

Bulla turned her gaze down to the table and looked hard at a spot there for a long moment. She then turned back to Pan and took her hand, giving Pan a short nod and a smile. She was followed soon by Uub, who took Pan's other hand in his free one. Then Marron reached across the table and put a hand on Uub's forearm before extending a hand out to Zackary. Zackary took her hand and felt a wide weight rest itself on his shoulder. He turned to see Buu looking at him with his trademark smile. Twilight repositioned her self between Bulla and Garnet and rested a hoof on Bulla's closest forearm, while Spike stood up, walked over to Twilight and Bulla and put a claw on each of their shoulders.

"Buu and friends fight together, Buu and friends win!" Buu announced.

"That's right, Buu," said Marron. "We're in this together, now."

Pan sniffled and let go of Uub's hand temporarily to dry her eyes. When she was done, she smiled to Marron, then to Zackary.

"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THIS PLANET!" Peridot suddenly shouted, prompting the attention of everyone seated. "First the Cluster, then Majin Buu, now wish granting Dragon Balls that turn evil if their overused? What's next, is Lord Freeza gonna give us a visit, too?"

"That's already happened, Peridot," Pearl replied. "And that... Son Goku... person... beat him."

Peridot began breathing erratically for a few moments, before her eyes rolled back and she slid down her seat and under the table.

"Drama queen," sniggered Amethyst.

Zackary turned back to Garnet and asked, "What else can you tell us about the Shadow Dragons?"

"Each of them is dangerous in their own way," Garnet replied. "But there is one who is worth warning about; Syn Shenron."

"Syn Shenron?" Spike asked. "What makes him so dangerous?"

"He's the One-Star Dragon Ball, and quite easily the strongest of the Shadow Dragons," said Garnet. "He was born from the greatest of our wishes, and thus is the most cruel, uncaring and evil hearted of them all. He has no respect of any form of life, and isn't even above killing his fellow Shadow Dragons."

"What's his special ability?" Pan asked. "Like, Haze with his pollution, or Rage with his electricity. It might provide a clue to what his weakness is."

Pearl shook her head as she replied. "He is simply the strongest of the Shadow Dragons, I'm afraid. No special abilities, no obvious weaknesses."

"Well, that makes trying to find that out of the question," Zackary said, looking down at his empty plate.

"Syn is also not at all a fair fighter," Garnet continued. "Even when outnumbered, he will still find an underhanded way to beat you."

"So in other words, keep our eyes open?" Twilight asked.

"Exactly," replied Garnet. "If he spots a weakness, he will exploit it. And when you face him, for stars' sake, don't have the Dragon Balls on you when you do?"

"Huh?" Zackary asked. "Why not."

"If Syn is able to absorb the other Dragon Balls, he will be nearly invincible, and will have the powers of all the other Shadow Dragons."

"How do you know that we'll have all the other Dragon Balls when we face this Syn Shenron?" Bulla asked.

"It's the most likely scenario I have seen," Garnet replied, taking of her shades, revealing not two, but three eyes, much to Zackary's surprise.

"My future vision enables my to see multiple futures and possibilities. That's actually how we Crystal Gems were able to beat Syn the first time. Believe me when I say the you truly _don't_ want to know what happens when Syn is able to absorb the Dragon Balls."

"So, what do we do? Hide them?" Spike asked. "How do we know that this Syn Shenron won't come looking for them and find them in their hiding spot."

Zackary looked out to the horizon began to ponder their predicament. The sun was just setting then, giving the sky a beautiful blend of orange and purple. As he thought, Garnet spoke again.

"When we faced the Shadow Dragons, we hid each of the dragon balls in one place as we collected them – the cave near where we built our beach house. Then again, we were the only ones looking for them."

"I guess we can't do that then," said Marron. "If there are more people like the ones in that motorcycle gang that Zack and I faced in Red Centre Town, they'll surely be looking for the Dragon Balls."

"And should they happen upon our designated hiding place, all our efforts were for nothing," Zackary concluded out loud. "I think we should hold on to the Dragon Balls 'till we get six of the seven, and avoid Syn Shenron at all costs before we do so."

"You run the risk of Syn Shenron getting what he wants that way. You know that, right?" Steven questioned.

"Not if we hide them all together, first, mate" Zackary replied. All his friends looked to him with amazement as he said this.

"But what about the others who could be looking for the Dragon Balls?" Twilight asked.

"You can use our beach house to hide them when you have collected the six," Garnet offered. "Each of us gems has a room that only we can open. They will be safely hidden away until you return from defeating Syn Shenron."

"Well," Uub said with a sigh. "I guess that's as good a plan as any."

"I call dibs for holding on to them!" Amethyst suddenly blurted out.

"You are not nearly responsible enough to guard the Dragon Balls, Amethyst," Pearl protested. "Remember what you did with the one star ball we found? I believe I should be the temporary guardian of the Dragon Balls until-"

"They will be split evenly between us," Garnet interrupted. "I will get two, Amethyst will get two, and Pearl will get two."

"Sounds like a plan," Zackary said, with new enthusiasm in his voice. This was going to work, he knew it. He turned back to his friends, and they looked back with the same hopeful expression that he was feeling. It simply had to work.

"Remember guys," Zackary added. "Together."

"Together!" all eight of them cheered in unison, before standing up to help Steven and the Crystal Gems tidy up the beach.

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Zackary slowly opened his eyes from a not-so-pleasant dream. The moonlight shone through the window onto the couch that he was sleeping on. He sat up and looked around the room.

His friends were all still asleep, in their own sleeping bags that were generously provided by Amethyst and Pearl, and in different positions around the living room. Marron was next to him on the couch, lying the other way to him, Twilight was on the armchair, curled up into a ball, Spike was on the floor just under her, Pan decided that a good place to sleep was under the coffee table, Uub was right beside her, Buu was splayed out on a window-side seat near the front door and Bulla had somehow strung her sleeping back up between a staircase leading up to a higher level and the wall on the opposite side, to form a hammock. He stared out the front door to the beach ahead blankly, trying to empty his mind of all thought of the dream that he had. He didn't feel the movement next to him.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Marron asked quietly, interrupting Zackary from his concentration. He turned to her and nodded.

"You wanna talk about it?" Marron asked, shifting herself up next to him in her sleeping bag.

Zackary let out a sigh as he replied. "Just had a dream about my family back in Harbour City."

"Oh?" Marron asked. "Good I hope."

Zackary shook his head. "We flew back to my house and found them dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry," whispered Marron. "I'm sure your folks are fine."

"I hope so," said Zackary. "I've already lost my father to this madness. I couldn't bear the thought of losing anyone else."

"Don't worry, Zack," Marron said, placing a reassuring hand on Zackary's shoulder. "Once we get the Dragon Balls, we can bring your dad, and everyone else who lost their lives to all of this."

Zackary's brow furrowed. "I'm not so sure that's a great idea anymore."

"Huh?" asked Marron. "Why not?"

"Think about what Garnet said earlier," Zackary replied. "Didn't the Shadow Dragons come to life from similar wishes? I don't want to run the risk of bringing them back right after we put them down."

There was silence in the room for what seemed like hours before Marron spoke again.

"Well, how about this," she said, causing Zackary to turn his look to her. "We only make that wish on the Dragon Balls, to wish everyone back to life. After that, we promise never to go looking for them again."

"R-really?" Zackary asked, bewildered. "What if we need them for something serious?"

"If it's someone's time to die, then it's their time," Marron replied. "You heard Garnet's story. If we keep using them to bring people back to life every time something like this happens, well, we're dealing with the consequences now, aren't we?"

Zackary looked out to the door again as he pondered Marron's words. His own mother would use a similar phrase when describing death. It somehow made him feel... comforted, hearing it from Marron.

"You know, Marron, strangely enough, that actually made me feel a lot better," he said, turning to her and smiling. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Zack," Marron replied, returning the smile and removing her hand from his shoulder. "Now, try and get some sleep. We have another early morning tomorrow."

Zackary nodded a lay back down where he was, while Marron did the same.

 _Hold on Mum, McKenzie, Jordan. I'll make this right,_ he thought to himself as he slowly drifted back off to sleep.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. We're finally off to find the next Dragon Ball!**

 **Bulla: Hey, look guys! Harbour City!**

 **Marron: Isn't that where you live, Zack?**

 **Zackary: What? I can't believe it! I gotta check on my family real quick guys! Next time on Dragon Ball Harmony: Return to Harbour City; Free Fish? Don't miss it!**


	22. Return to Harbour City: Free Fish?

**Welcome back, readers, to another exciting episode of Dragon Ball Harmony! When we left off, our heroes were being treated to a super late breakfast, provided by the Crystal Gems. As they finished, Garnet revealed to them the true nature of what they had unleashed upon the world when they attempted to summon Shenron. Particular attention was given to a mysterious Shadow Dragon named Syn Shenron, who was described as being the cruellest and most powerful of the Shadow Dragons. Zachary, Marron, Uub, Pan, Buu, Bulla, Twilight and Spike had all since silently resolved to fight together. Will their unity be enough for the challenges to come? Find out now...**

 **Return to Harbour City: Free Fish?**

"Well, that was certainly a very... sweet... breakfast," said Twilight as the eight of them flew in the direction of the next Dragon Ball, as marked by Bulla's dragon radar.

"It got the job done, though," Zackary replied, patting his stomach. "At least we didn't forget to eat it entirely like we've been doing lately."

Zackary still had the taste of popcorn, cream and chocolate syrup that made up Steven's 'Together Breakfast', swirling around on his tongue. No amount of tea was going to make that disappear anytime soon. Zackary actually found it rather uncomfortable, despite the satisfaction it gave him to eat it at the time.

The group eventually found themselves approaching a new landmass, having been flying over open ocean all this time. Zackary found the coastline that they approached strangely familiar...

"Bulla," he asked. "Where exactly is the Dragon Radar taking us?"

"Well," said Bulla. "We're about to fly over the Gold Coast now, and if this reading is right, we should be landing right in Harbour City."

Zackary felt his eyes widen suddenly as he listened. There was a Shadow Dragon in his home! He stopped suddenly and froze in place, prompting the others to stop with him.

"Is... something the matter?" Bulla asked.

"Yeah, Zack, you ok, buddy?" asked Spike.

 _Mum, McKenzie, Jordan,_ he thought in his head, over and over again. He began breathing harder and faster as the memories of his dream began to circulate to the front of his mind. He was soon snapped out of his state by a firm hand on his forearm. He shook his head and turned to look at Marron, who was the one holding him.

"I'm sure that they're fine, Zack," she said. "But the more we stay here, the less likely that becomes. C'mon, I bet they've missed you."

Zackary let out a deep breath before nodding to Marron and flying forward with the rest of the group.

"I wanna go check on them, if that's ok," he added. Marron and Bulla nodded as they continued their path.

"Check on who?" Twilight asked, confused.

Marron turned to Twilight and replied. "His family."

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The sight that Zackary and his friends saw when they arrived at the iconic harbour after which the city was named both shocked and confused them. Apart from the destruction that must've taken place during the earthquakes, nothing much seemed to have changed. There were people still hard at work with repairs and resource distribution, and the famous Harbour Bridge itself was still in tact. Something was off, and Zackary knew it.

"The dragon radar said that the Shadow Dragon was here, I'm sure of it," said Bulla, furiously staring at her dragon radar.

"And yet, there's no sign of any struggle beyond the... normal," observed Spike.

"It's here, alright," Zackary said. "We may not sense it now, but I feel it in my..."

The water on the other side of the bridge suddenly spun upwards towards the sky. It stayed for a brief moment, before collapsing back to the sea. As the water fell, a wet scaly object suddenly hit Zackary in the face. As it rebounded, Marron caught it out of the air and held it steady so that the others could see what it was.

A silver bream.

"Zack was just hit in the face by an airborne fish," said Marron, as she let go of it and watched it descend back to the water.

"It's not the only one, either," exclaimed Pan, pointing to the city. "Look."

The people in the city had suddenly stopped whatever they were doing to catch all of the fish that was now raining down on them. Some even had baskets, including one figure, who Zackary recognised.

"If this is the work of the Shadow Dragon, then this is... unusually generous," Uub observed.

"My brother's down there!" Zackary exclaimed before racing down to meet the boy with a basket.

"I told you your family was ok," Marron called after him as they followed him to the road.

Zackary landed on the bridge and ran to his youngest brother, Jordan. Jordan turned around, carrying a now full basket of fish. Zackary stopped just a few feet away as they recognised each other.

"Z-Zack," stammered Jordan. "You're back! Did you get those Dragon Ball things you said you were going to?"

"Almost, Jordan," Zackary replied. "How's everyone else? Are Mum and McKenzie ok?"

Jordan nodded as he replied. "We're getting by pretty well, actually. We're living off these falling fish right now."

Zackary let out an enormous sigh of relief. He took a few moments to breath deeply.

"Uh... are you ok, Zack," Jordan asked. "And those people behind you, do you know them?"

Zackary turned around and saw that his friends had all landed with him. He came back to his senses and turned back to his younger brother, clearing his throat.

"Sorry," he said. "These are my friends, who I met on my search for the Dragon Balls. This is Marron, Pan, Uub, Bulla, Buu, Twilight and Spike." Each of his friends waved as they were introduced. Zackary turned back to them and continued. "This is my youngest brother, Jordan."

"It's an honor to meet you, Jordan," Twilight said, trotting forwards and extending her hoof.

Jordan didn't seem to know what to make of it, as he simply looked at Twilight with one eyebrow cocked, and his mouth slightly agape. He soon settled, though, and hesitantly placed the basket down to shake her hoof.

"Nice to... meet you to," Jordan replied. He turned back to Zackary and asked, "Are you guys coming back to ours?"

"That's my plan," Zackary replied. "I felt like seeing as I'm here, I'd better check on you guys. By the way, what's with the falling fish?"

"Oh, yeah, that," said Jordan. "Well, this dark dragon-snake thing landed in the harbour one day, and since then, it's spat out fish twice. I have a basket because..."

Jordan was cut off by a scuffle between two groups of people. Zackary looked over at them and saw a group of young men and women punching, kicking and grappling each other, while fish lay on the ground around them.

"Welp, time to go," Jordan announced. "I'm lucky the busses haven't stopped, otherwise I'd be in that mess. I generally head off when things like that start happening.

"Sounds like a good idea," said Uub.

"Don't need to wait for a bus anymore, though," Zackary said with a smile.

"Uh... What are you talking about?" Jordan asked.

"Just give me the basket of fish and hop on my back," Zackary replied.

"You're gonna run me back home?" Jordan asked.

"Better," Zackary replied. "Just trust me."

"Doesn't look like you have much time left," Marron observed as the violent youths began to turn their attention to Jordan and Zackary.

Reluctantly, Jordan handed Zackary the basket, and Zackary turned around so that Jordan could hop onto his back. As soon as Zackary felt Jordan was secure, he took to the sky, followed by the rest of his group, before the violent youths could approach.

"Zack..." Jordan said shakily. "...You are flying...how are you flying...?"

"Oh, that's something that Marron taught me how to do," Zackary replied. "It took me weeks to get the hang of, though."

"Also," Jordan continued. "If you guys are crashing with us for a bit, I don't think we have enough fish for everyone."

"Buu have it covered!" Buu suddenly called out. Zackary turned to see that Buu had turned his belly into a large pouch, that was also filled to the brim with fish.

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Carefully following the roads and streets, Zackary lead his friends in the general direction of his house. It wasn't too difficult as it was simply a matter of retracing the directions he would take on foot or in a bus home from the city. At long last, he caught sight of what was left of his house.

"We're not actually staying there anymore," Jordan suddenly said.

"Well, I'd be surprised if you were, to be quite honest," Zackary replied, coming to a halt. "So where are you guys held up now?"

Jordan pointed off to the right and Zackary followed his finger out that way. There was a lot of greenery on this side, and it all lead down a hill into a creek, a few hundred metres down from the road. But that was not where Jordan was pointing. A fair distance beyond the trees was a stone cylindrical structure, topped with what appeared to be ramparts.

"Your family's staying in a castle, now?" Twilight asked excitedly.

"It wasn't our first choice," said Jordan. "But it was the only place left where we could be away from... people..."

"Why would you want to-" Twilight was suddenly cut off by Marron.

"Remember those people on the Harbour Bridge earlier?" she asked, rhetorically. "I bet there are people like that everywhere now, just trying to keep themselves alive, even if it's to the detriment of everyone else."

"Come to think of it, ponies aren't much different in these situations, are they Twilight?" Spike asked.

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "No, Spike. Unfortunately, they're not."

"No time to be glum," Buu piped up. "Zack's family waiting for fish!"

"Yeah, you're right, Buu," Zackary replied. "Let's go everyone!"

Zackary lead the others towards the castle in the distance. As they flew, they passed over a river. Zackary remembered the bush walks along the water's edge, and seeing boats floating up and down this river. Now, the only boats on the river were broken and capsized.

Eventually, the nine of them passed over the trees to the castle. It was much smaller than the impression given by the great keep they saw from the distance, having the appearance of a stone mansion rather than anything a king or queen of the middle ages might deem worthy of being called a castle. Nevertheless, it was a sight to behold, and even the miniature towers on the corners gave the place a regal feel.

"Let's land in the tennis courts," Jordan suggested. "There's a path their that leads right inside."

Zackary nodded and looked around the castle grounds until he saw what his brother was talking about: Inside of a large black fence cage was a pair of tennis courts, with one of them connected to a path leading right up to a set of double doors. The group landed in this court, and Zackary let his younger brother off his back to lead them in, handing him back his basket of fish as he did.

"Gee, this place must've been lucky to have survived all these disasters," said Pan as they exited the tennis courts.

Jordan nodded as he replied. "Strangely enough, we're the only ones who thought to come up this way. We have the whole castle to ourselves."

The group 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the marvel of this quaint little castle that Jordan was leading them toward. The front double-doors that they approached were surprisingly modern in design, with a dark wooden frame around coloured glass paintings. Before Jordan even had a chance to knock on the doors, they both flew open backwards. There, standing before them, was a familiar, brown skinned woman with jet black hair, dark eyes and wearing all purple.

His mother.

"Zack! You're back already!" She screamed as she ran right at Zackary and collided into his body, wrapping her arms around him. "I was so worried something happened to you!"

"I missed you too, mum," Zackary replied with a smile, as he returned the hug in turn. "I helped bring Jordan home with the fish he was getting from the city."

Zackary's mum broke the hug and turned to Jordan. "Did anyone there give you a hard time, Jordy?"

Jordan shook his head and replied. "Thanks to Zack and his friends, I was fine."

"Speaking of which," Zackary turned back to his friends as he continued. "These are my friends who I met on the journey to find the Dragon Balls."

As Zackary finished his sentence, each of his friends introduced themselves one at a time, starting with Marron and finishing with Twilight.

"It's very nice to meet you all," Zackary's mum replied (after recovering from her shock at being greeted by a pony and a dragon). "If I had known we were having more people over I would have organised for more food to be here."

"Buu have you covered!" said Buu, showing her his elastic belly full of fish.

Zackary's mum nodded with a smile before continuing. "Looks like we'd better get to work, then..."

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"Well, at least it's nice to know that Zack isn't the only one out their with such an... appetite..."

Zackary's mother was observing as Zackary, Pan and Bulla were wolfing down on the fish that she had finished preparing. Zackary had noticed this, even as he was busy enjoying his meal.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that," Twilight remarked as Jordan placed a plate of grilled mushrooms and asparagus in front of her. "So, how long have you guys been living here?"

"Only the last six weeks," Zackary's mother replied. "We came here after the disasters while the other survivors were being set up in tents, because there was no way in hell I was sleeping in a tent on the concrete!"

"Sounds like she'd get along with Rarity, Twi," said Spike in between mouthfuls of fish.

"Who's Rarity?" asked Jordan, who was now sitting down with his mother.

"She's one of my friends back at home," Twilight replied. "She also prefers the finer things in life."

Zackary set down the last of his now cleaned fish skeletons and let out a loud and satisfied sigh.

"That was great! Thanks, Mum!" He said before looking around the dining room. It was quite spacious, with the long oval table they were sitting at occupying the centre of the room. There were paintings in gold frames of men in different military uniforms lining the walls around them. A chandelier hung from the ceiling high above the centre of the table. Zackary looked back to the table and realised that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's McKenzie?" he asked aloud.

"He's with his girlfriend," replied Jordan. "Apparently her place survived the disasters, but she's feeling a bit unsafe at the moment."

"I hope he's eating enough," his mother groaned. "And that he's safe from all the crazies out there. Speaking of crazy, how's your search for these Dragon Balls going, Zack?"

"So far, so good, mum," Zackary replied as he protruded from his jacket the two-star ball.

"It's a work in progress," Marron added. "But with determination, and each other, we've slowly been putting everything back together."

"And speaking of craz _ies-_ " Spike began, but was silenced by a firm hoof to the thigh by Twilight. This didn't stop Zackary's mother from enquiring, though.

"What happened, Zack?" she asked, worriedly. "Did you get attacked? Did anyone try to steal anything from you?"

Zackary took in a deep breath as he prepared for the inevitable.

"The dragon balls were damaged when we found them," he said. "When we tried to make our wish to save the world, it released these monsters instead. We've taken care of two of them, but there are still five more-"

"And one of them is here," Zackary's mum finished. "With the Dragon Ball."

Zackary nodded in response.

"Like Zack said, we've already taken down two of them," Pan added hurriedly. "We'll protect Harbour City from this one, no problem!"

"That's right ma'am, you can count on us," said Uub. "Besides, your son's really strong now!"

Zackary leaned back in his chair in painful anticipation; it was only a matter of time until she shouted the castle down around them. Fortunately, however, Bulla seemed to interrupt that.

"Uh, guys," she said. " The Dragon ball. It's on the move!"

"Sweet Celestia, we have to go now!" Twilight exclaimed as she and Spike leaped off their seats, followed closely by the rest of the gang.

"Now hold on just a minute!" Zackary's mother suddenly yelled. "Is that dragon ball actually the monster? I don't want you putting yourself in harms way just to be a hero! Let your friends handle it! You've done enough!"

"Sorry, mum," Zackary sighed. "But we're in this together. Thanks for lunch, mum!"

He quickly followed his friends out of the dining room to a large open ball room all the way to the double-doors leading out of the castle, all the while his mother was yelling after him, and his brother trying to calm her down.

 **Zackary: G'day, Zackary here. I wonder what this Shadow Dragon has in store for us?**

 **Marron: Whatever it is, it can't be good...**

 **Uub: Hey, this one's pretty hot, actually.**

 **Pan: Uub!**

 **Zackary: Next time on Dragon Ball Harmony: A Six-Star Dragon With A Peculiar Weakness? Don't miss it!**

 **Discord: So, Zmoney, you've finally pulled yourself away from that game long enough to finish this damn chapter. Good show! I wish you'd hurry up so that you can show everyone my true power in the next arc!**

 **Author: Discord, don't spoil to much, please. And for the record, I also have a special to write _and_ a Dragon Ball Super Crossover to start!**

 **Discord: Isn't that the one set in Universe 6 with the weird shipping idea? Ooh, I can't wait to see what the offspring of _that_ pairing can do...**


End file.
